Texans rookie QB Watson on early path to greatness

Deshaun Watson is doing things no rookie quarterback has done in the NFL since Fran Tarkenton in the 1960s.

Most everyone is wowed by what Watson is doing for the Houston Texans.

Everyone, that is, except Watson. “It was a matter of time before somebody ... was going to do it,” he said. “So why not me?”

Since taking over at quarterback for the Texans at halftime of the season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the 12th overall pick in the draft has shown an innate ability to make and extend plays and get his teammates to rally around him.

What he lacks in experience, he more than makes up for in confidence and that, his teammates say, is one of the biggest reasons Houston’s offence is performing as never before.

“He has the pedigree to be great,” receiver DeAndre Hopkins said. “And just the adjustments that he can make on the field, going on the sideline, going out and correcting it, I haven’t had that in a while.”

Watson threw for 283 yards with four touchdown passes and ran for another score as the Texans set a franchise record by scoring 57 points in a trouncing of the Tennessee Titans on Sunday to become the first rookie since Tarkenton in 1961 to have at least four touchdown passes with a running score in a game.

He’s the only rookie in NFL history with seven touchdown passes and two rushing touchdowns in his team’s first four games, and his five touchdowns on Sunday were the second-most by a rookie in league history behind the six Gale Sayers scored in 1965.

But he knows he’ll have to take another step this week with the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs visiting on Sunday night.

“You’re only as good as your next game,” he said.