Tittle dies at 90

Y.A. Tittle, a Hall of Fame quarterback who starred with the New York Giants, died at age 90.

As the Houston Texans face another long stretch without superstar J.J. Watt, they know the rest of their defense will have to step up to make up for his absence after he and linebacker Whitney Mercilus both suffered season-ending injuries on Sunday night.

"These guys that are there, they're going to have to step in and ... it's going to be multiple guys," coach Bill O'Brien said.

"You don't replace J.J. Watt or Whitney Mercilus with one guy. That's just ridiculous. It's going to be a lot of different guys that are going to chip in to help, and I think the coaching staff needs to do a great job, too."

O'Brien confirmed that both were season-ending injuries on Monday, a day after Watt broke his left leg and Mercilus, an outside linebacker, tore a pectoral muscle in a 42-34 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Watt sustained a tibial plateau fracture to end his season early for the second straight year. The threetime Defensive Player of the Year returned in 2017 after missing the last 13 games of last season following his second back surgery.

The defensive end played every game in his first five seasons in the NFL before his injury last year.

Mercilus, who is in his sixth season, started each game this season and had 10 tackles and a sack.

Y.A. Tittle, Giants great and Hall of Famer, dead at 90

Y.A. Tittle, the Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Giants to three division titles in the 1960s but never won a championship final in high school, college or the pros and is immortalized by one of sport’s most famous images of defeat, died on Sunday. He was 90.

Tittle’s family confirmed his passing to LSU, where Tittle starred in college. No details were immediately provided.

In late September of 1964, the last of Tittle’s 17 pro seasons, he had just thrown an interception from his own end zone, resulting in a Pittsburgh Steelers touchdown, when Pittsburgh Post-Gazette photographer Morris Berman captured Tittle’s utter dejection on film.

Then 38 but appearing far older, Tittle was kneeling, stunned and bloodied, without a helmet on his bald head after being hit by Pittsburgh defensive lineman John Baker. Though he suffered a concussion and cracked sternum on the play,

Tittle finished the game and the season, the worst — the Giants were 2-10-2 in 1964 — of his otherwise dramatically productive four years in New York.