Watson returns to New England after eye-opening game last year
One player and two coaches who will impact the Texans’ first game of the season at New England weighed in on quarterback Deshaun Watson on Wednesday.
Defensive end J.J. Watt and coaches Bill Belichick and Bill O’Brien made interesting observations about Watson and his return to Gillette Stadium, where he made his second start in 2017.
Watt spent a significant part of the offseason rehabbing and bonding with Watson. This is the sixth consecutive season in which the Texans will have a new starting quarterback.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been able to come into a training camp and know for a fact who the QB1 is,” Watt said. “It’s nice to know there’s going to be one guy back there under center commanding the offense.
“It’s not a competition. It’s like, ‘OK, how are we going to get best prepared for Game One?’”
When the Texans played at New England last season, Watson was coming off a prime-time victory at Cincinnati in his first start.
In a hostile environment where 65,878 fans did everything they could to disrupt him,
Watson threw for 301 yards and two touchdowns in the Patriots’ 36-33, come-from-behind victory. He also threw two interceptions, one on a Hail Mary as time expired.
It was a remarkable performance for a rookie so early in his career, but Watson seems immune to loud crowds on the road. At Clemson, he routinely played before audiences larger than he’ll face in the NFL.
“I knew from the time he arrived here he had really good poise, (a) very smart guy,” O’Brien said. “I don’t think there was ever going to be a stage too big for him. This guy had beaten Alabama in the national championship game in front of 100,000 people on national television and almost did it the year before.”
O’Brien is happy to tell anyone interested how much he loves working with Watson and how much he respects him.
“He’s very professional in his approach every day,” O’Brien said. “There’s a lot of things he hasn’t seen yet in professional football because he hasn’t been out there a ton.
“He’s the same guy every day. He’s very consistent. He learns from everything he sees. He has a short memory. When things go bad, he’s able to deal with adversity. He’s dealt with adversity his whole life.”
Belichick, the greatest coach in NFL history, almost lost to Watson.
The Texans trailed 28-27 entering the fourth quarter. Watson led drives of 67 and 49 yards that set up Ka’imi Fairbairn field goals for a 33-28 lead with 2:24 remaining.
The Patriots, who didn’t have a first down in the fourth quarter until their last drive, survived when Tom Brady threw a 25yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks with 23 seconds remaining
“He does a great job,” Belichick said of Watson. “We certainly saw him and the rest of the offense move the ball and score a lot of points on us last year.”
Belichick pointed out that Watson has impressive weapons like receivers DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller, tight end Ryan Griffin and running back Lamar Miller.
“They had a lot of guys that made plays against us (and) he was one of them,” Belichick said. “You can’t just stop one guy. We’re going to have to handle the whole group. They have too many other people that can kill you.
“We’re going to have to do a good job across the board and play good team defense and have our team better prepared than we did last year to deal with it. I’m sure it’ll all be a problem.”
Watson knows what he’s up against. He’s aware of expectations so high it might be unfair. He’s unfazed, just happy to return to the field and try to lead the Texans to their first victory at Gillette Stadium, where he learned some hard lessons a year ago.
“How we had the opportunity to put the game away and didn’t,” he said. “Left too much time for Tom Brady. Against those guys, you can’t make too many mistakes. You have to capitalize on red zone points, score touchdowns rather than field goals and be able to play mistake-free as much as you can.
“I’ve learned a lot, being able to see different looks from different opponents, be able to see different professional athletes and go against different competition. Every opportunity I get to build my game is very important.”
Against the Patriots, the perennial AFC Super Bowl favorite, Watson has a chance to build his game and make Texans’ history as their first quarterback to win at Gillette Stadium.
“I’m very excited to be able to get back in action where everything matters,” Watson said. “Once Sunday gets here, cut it loose and play free.”