THIRD CONSECUTIVE WIN LEADS TO TIE ATOP AFC SOUTH.
Victory can’t gloss over beating Watson keeps taking behind O-line
On paper, things don’t look too bad for the Texans.
After an 0-3 start, they seem to have bounced back. They’ve won three in a row after beating the Bills 20-13 on Sunday and sit at .500 this season.
But in reality, things aren’t going well for the Texans.
It’s hard to celebrate a squeak-itout victory against a bad Buffalo team when star quarterback Deshaun Watson spent most of Sunday on the ground.
Buffalo defenders sacked Watson seven times. He threw two interceptions and lost a fumble — he lost the ball two other times but the Texans recovered those.
Watson was playing through assorted chest injuries. He started despite being listed as questionable on the injury report all week.
It’s hard to say how bad the injuries are. It was easy to see that he wasn’t himself Sunday, though. He didn’t have any explosiveness. He didn’t move the way he normally does. He was stiff at times and made several mistakes.
Watson said he was fine after the game. He didn’t want to use the pain
as an excuse for his performance. He was 15-of-25 passing for 177 yards and a touchdown. He carried the ball twice for 2 yards.
Texans coach Bill O’Brien acknowledged that Watson was playing through tough injuries, but immediately reiterated that he wouldn’t have played if he hadn’t been cleared.
Regardless of his injuries this week, Watson now has an eight-game interception streak — the longest active in the NFL.
There’s still a lot of hope for Watson.
He’s a special player. His potential is through the roof. Everything that excited the masses about Watson — his athleticism, his efficiency, his ability to escape defenders — is all still there.
But this season, it’s only showing in spurts.
Line, coaches to blame
A lot of that falls on his teammates and his coaches.
The faulty offensive line has let Watson down repeatedly over the last five weeks. On Sunday, the Bills’ aggressive pass rush was too much for the line to handle.
Watson was battered repeatedly. The Bills hit him 12 times Sunday.
O’Brien said he and the coaching staff needed to get back to the drawing board and “figure some things out.” Watching the tape of their franchise quarterback take another beating will be brutal. For Watson’s sake, hopefully the coaches can finally find an a way to protect their quarterback.
After six games, nothing has worked.
Watson can be a star, but it’s more likely he will be an oft-injured star if things stay the way they are.
O’Brien called Watson and the rest of the Texans “tough” and “resilient.”
They were Sunday. They battled adversity and picked up a win.
But with the talent the Texans have — starting with their quarterback — they shouldn’t have to pull out victories in crunch time.
The Texans head to Jacksonville next week. The Jaguars have had their own struggles this season. If the Texans win that game and then manage to win the next — a Thursday night home game against the Dolphins, no one will care about the 0-3 start or the three wins they barely managed following that.
But beating the Jaguars and the Dolphins won’t happen without Watson. And while Watson claims he’s fine, he won’t be if he keeps taking a beating every week.
The offensive line is leaky. It needs to improve vastly and protect Watson if the Texans are going to make this season anything more than mediocre. An offense with Watson should never be anything but thrilling.
O’Brien knows the issues. But he doesn’t have the answers.
“I don’t know, I really don’t,” he said of his offensive line’s performance Sunday. “I think we’ve got to go back and figure it out. It starts with me. We have to figure out how to get better.”
QB being held back
Each week the offensive line doesn’t improve is a week Watson is being held back.
Sunday was the 12th start in Watson’s career. He’s now 6-6 overall.
“I am always working and trying to find ways to get better and perfect my craft,” Watson said. “I want to capitalize on every big play.”
He needs protection to do that. He needs to be healthy to be himself.
The Texans could easily be 0-6, but in the last three games, they found ways to win.
Now if they can keep that up and take care of their quarterback, the future is bright.
If not, they are letting Watson — and his world of potential — down.
To anyone just looking at the win/loss column, things seem fine in Houston.
But until the offensive line starts taking care of Watson, the Texans are far from being good this season.