Watson shakes off rust, puts on smile
There was an unexpected absence from the Texans’ offensive huddle Sunday afternoon: Deshaun Watson’s trademark smile.
The dual-threat quarterback was out of sync with his receivers, shedding rust on the fly against a New England Patriots defense designed specifically to limit his skills, and he didn’t derive his usual enjoyment from playing football.
Although Watson rebounded from an extremely rough start that included a fumble off a botched exchange and an interception on an ill-advised throw into double coverage heaved toward rookie wide receiver Vyncint Smith, it just wasn’t his day during the Texans’ 27-20 season-opening defeat.
Now, Watson is intent on maintaining his usual energy and positive attitude and not dwelling on his mistakes. He wants his attitude to lift up his teammates.
“Whenever something bad happened or something didn’t go our way, just being able to pull everyone up instead of everyone just kind of coming back to the bench and sitting down and not saying a word,” Watson said. “Just being able to keep encouraging people and being able to put a smile on my face, have fun with the game.
“That was one thing that we didn’t do. We didn’t really have too much fun. We were too focused on the things that didn’t go our way instead of trying to find some positives. So that’ll get corrected and move forward from there.”
During his first regular-season game since he tore his anterior cruciate ligament last season, Watson completed 17 of 34 passes for 176 yards and one touchdown, with one interception and an ugly 62.9 passer rating.
The first-round draft pick out of Clemson completed just five of 13 passes for 61 yards by halftime for a 21.6 passer rating.
“He got hit a few times, but he’s gained a lot of strength in the offseason,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “We have to do a better job of protecting him; he has to do a better job.”
No finger pointing
Watson blamed himself for the loss. The accountability is appreciated by his teammates even though they don’t necessarily agree with his tough selfassessment.
“I think there’s a lot of things that we all could have done a lot better in the game,” defensive end J.J. Watt said. “There’s no one person in any football game that can take all of the blame or all the credit for winning. It’s the ultimate team game.
“There’s 11 guys on both sides of the ball. We know who Deshaun is, and we know what he can be and what he’s capable of. I’m very excited to have him as my quarterback.”
Watson was sacked three times and hit a dozen times overall by the Patriots.
He’s hoping to rebound strongly Sunday at Tennessee, one year after producing a franchise-record 57 points in a blowout victory over the Titans.
Watson completed 25 of 34 passes for 283 yards, four touchdowns and one interception and added a rushing touchdown against the Titans.
“We were just all on the same page, just clicking. Coach O’Brien and the staff put together a great game plan, and we just went out there and had fun,” Watson said. “We followed what we saw in the film and trusted our instincts and trusted our preparation. We just went out there and left it all on the field. It was a fun game.”
In good health
Watson didn’t have any real health setbacks against New England. He isn’t on this week’s injury report.
“I just caught a cramp the last couple drives,” Watson said. “I rolled my ankle … but I’m fine. It wasn’t really dehydration or anything. I just caught a cramp on that last throw, and after that I got an IV and just moved forward. I’ve been fine the last two days and (am) going to continue to prepare and make sure I’m good on Sunday.”
Watson didn’t have many open receivers against the Patriots. All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was blanketed in bracket coverage but still caught eight passes for 78 yards.
Not having injured wide receiver Will Fuller in the lineup impacted the game plan. And an overhauled offensive line didn’t hold up well in pass protection.
The 22-year-old Watson had the support of a strong running game. However, the Texans went 2-for-11 on third downs. They were 2-of-5 in red-zone situations.
Red-zone play must improve
What Watson lacked mostly was recent full-speed game action. He was learning to trust his right knee again after undergoing surgery a year ago to repair his ACL.
“There was a lot of good things,” Watson said. “We ran the ball very well. We took advantage of the short throws and doing the up-tempo stuff. But just really in the red zone, we’ve got to capitalize, get on the same page with the receivers.
“Like J.J. said, it’s a team game. It’s a team sport, but for me as a quarterback, I want to be on the same page with the receivers all the time. We just misconnected on some throws and weren’t on the same page. So we’re going to correct that this week and move forward.”