T.J. Yates

By rule, someone has to win the AFC South.

And it seems oddly appropriate that there’s a chance that division will be decided in a duel between T.J. Yates and Charlie Whitehurst.

Those two stalwarts finished yesterday’s respective losses for the 6-7 Texans and Colts, after Brian Hoyer and Matt Hasselbeck were knocked from the games after taking so many brutal hits. Hoyer was getting checked for a concussion when he left late, and Hasselbeck was announced as having another rib injury.

“We’ll see what happens with Brian,” Yates said, via Dale Robertson of the Houston Chronicle. “I’ll just prepare like I do every week. I haven’t had a chance to see him yet, so I don’t know what’s going on. But it looked like he really hit the ground hard. . . .

“I guess we’ll see, come Wednesday, if I get more reps than usual.”

Hoyer’s already missed one game this year because of a concussion. Asked if Hoyer had suffered another one, Texans coach Bill O’Brien said: “I don’t know that yet. I’m not sure. It looked that way.”