So far, the protection plan isn’t paying off
Watson gets sacked four times and takes 13 hits overall during loss to Baltimore
Deshaun Watson managed to wrestle free from Jihad Ward, shrugging the Ravens’ defensive end off his left shoulder Sunday to send him falling to the ground while protecting the football with his right hand.
It was the start of an incredible escape by the Texans quarterback against relentless pressure. Watson also eluded defensive lineman Broderick Washington after getting away from Ward, leaving both of them behind in pursuit to somehow avoid a sack and throw the football away incomplete.
One play later, however, no one blocked blitzing safety DeShon Elliott. Running a similar play-action bootleg play from the previous snap backfired on fourth-and-1 as an off-balance Watson threw low and behind tight end Darren Fells, who was shadowed closely in coverage by rookie middle linebacker Patrick Queen.
The turnover on downs led to Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s first touchdown pass and an early 10-point Baltimore lead in a 33-16 Texans loss at NRG Stadium.
“It was basically a bootleg,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said Monday. “They blitzed us. Full-out blitz, blitz zero, and we just didn’t have a lot of options there. So we just have to do it better. We have to come up with a better play. We just have to do a better job in every area.”
Watson simply couldn’t avoid all of the heat applied by the Ravens’ defense, whose coordinator, Don “Wink” Martindale, dials up the most blitzes of any team in the league.
The Pro Bowl quarterback was sacked four times and hit 13 times overall. This marked the secondhighest amount of quarterback hits of Watson’s four-year career. He was sacked seven times and hit 19 times during a 2018 win over the
Buffalo Bills.
Two games into the season, Watson has already been sacked eight times and hit 20 times overall with 27 quarterback pressures after being sacked 44 times last season. Despite the Texans returning all five starting offensive linemen, including Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil, the pass protection is highly suspect and appears to have regressed.
“I think some of that was when we were down and we had to throw the ball,” O’Brien said Monday, one day after his team fell to 0-2 for the season. “I think that we have to work on different techniques up front relative to what the defensive line is doing to us. Overall, we just have to do a better job.
“It’s everybody. Just like I always say, it’s the quarterback, running back, the wide receivers, tight ends doing what they’re supposed to do, too. It’s not just the offensive line. We have to work really hard to get better quickly here.”
Whether it was left guard Max
Scharping being bull-rushed into Watson’s lap by nose tackle Brandon Williams or Elliott finding home on a sack in the fourth quarter, the pass protection is emerging as a hot-button issue. Calais Campbell, a 6-8, 300-pound fivetime Pro Bowl selection, had one sack and three quarterback hits. Tyus Bowser, a former University of Houston standout, had one sack and two hits.
While Tunsil had a team-high 75.4 pass blocking grade, per Pro Football Focus, Scharping had a team-low 34.4 grade and was replaced for a series by backup Senio Kelemete.
The right side of tackle Tytus Howard and guard Zach Fulton allowed six quarterback pressures apiece. Blitzing safeties and linebackers and line stunts all gave the Texans plenty of issues.
Watson managed to complete 25 of 36 passes for 275 yards and one touchdown despite being under heavy duress.
“He’s a true competitor,” Campbell said. “He went out there and competed, play in and play out, made a lot of plays to give his team a chance to win. But we have a lot of guys who are true competitors, too, and we just kept coming, found a way to keep them out of the end zone and hold them when they made big plays, and that really showed up big at the end of the game.
“I love playing against (Watson). I respect his game so much, and he really gave his team a chance to win, but we just kept humming — Coach Wink putting the blitz in there and just getting after them. I respect him so much because he kept getting up and kept making big plays and making guys miss, but we finally started getting there, and we finished the game.”
Now the Texans have to improve quickly and figure out a more effective pass protection plan heading into a Sunday road game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers have a formidable pass rush, led by T.J. Watt, J.J. Watt’s brother, along with Bud Dupree and Cam Heyward. They lead the NFL this season with 27 quarterback hits and have 10 sacks after leading the NFL with 54 sacks and 117 quarterback hits last season.
“It’s never good to be 0-2,” Watson said. “No one likes to lose, or at least I don’t like to lose. The energy, of course, coming off the field is a little low. At the end of the day, you can’t get discouraged. It’s a long year. We don’t want to start 0-2, but hey, that’s where we are. We’ve got a 24-hour rule: Learn from these mistakes, guys get healthy, rest your body, and let’s get ready for Pittsburgh.
“I’m going to continue to find ways to continue to get better and keep trusting all my guys that’s in that locker room. If we continue to do that, stay as one and don’t let it break us up and don’t let it fall into a snowball, then things will be fine. Guys just got to keep their confidence. We are here for a reason.”