Value of franchise QB like Brady shows why Texans are so reluctant to part with Watson
Watching Tampa Bay and Kansas City in Super Bowl LV provided another example of why the Texans do not want to trade quarterback Deshaun Watson.
The Buccaneers and Chiefs are quarterbackdriven teams, as most legitimate Super Bowl contenders are in today’s NFL. If you don’t have a franchise quarterback, you can pretty much forget about winning a Super Bowl.
Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time, and he proved it again Sunday in the Buccaneers’ 31-9 victory. He threw three touchdown passes, earned a seventh Super Bowl ring, and was voted the game’s MVP for the fifth time.
Despite the Chiefs’ loss, Patrick Mahomes is still the NFL’s best quarterback. He and his teammates on offense were the victims of a tremendous game plan devised by Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and carried out by his players, who capitalized on Kansas City’s injury-plagued offensive line.
To seriously compete for a
Lombardi Trophy, a team needs a great quarterback, whether he’s 43 like Brady or 25 like Mahomes. Brady won Sunday, and Mahomes won last year. One of them will be favored to win next year, too.
Brady, who has one year left on his contract with the Bucs, said last week he wants to play beyond 45, and based on what we saw at Raymond James Stadium, who’s going to doubt him?
With Brady out of the AFC, he might be competing against Mahomes again next season when Super Bowl LVI will be played in Los Angeles.
Every team’s goal is to win a Super Bowl, of course, including the Texans. Every owner, general manager and head coach knows it starts with finding and developing a franchise quarterback. The Texans did that, and they have a great one in Watson.
But the Texans are a long way from being a bona fide Super Bowl contender — light-years without Watson. Even though he wants to be traded, the Texans have no intentions of dealing him and restarting the process for finding another franchise quarterback. At least for now.
General manager Nick Caserio and new coach David Culley have to figure out how to convince Watson to play, but first, they have to be able to communicate with him, which they’ve been unable to do, according to multiple media reports.
As they rebuild under Caserio and Culley, the Texans aren’t interested in trading for a veteran quarterback or drafting one to replace Watson unless they determine they have no other alternative, but that’s not going to happen any time soon.
Tampa Bay showed what can happen if a team acquires the right quarterback. The Bucs and 49ers were the only teams that showed serious interest in signing Brady, according to media reports. He was coming off a poor performance in New England’s home playoff loss to Tennessee after the 2019 season and turning 43.
That season, the Bucs finished 7-9 with Jameis Winston at quarterback, including a December loss at home to the Texans. Exit Winston and enter Brady, who was recruited hard by coach Bruce Arians.
To help entice Brady to relocate to Tampa, Arians impressed him with weapons like wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and promised to add more.
General manager Jason Licht, who worked with Brady during his four years in the Patriots’ personnel department, brought in offensive players like tight end Rob Gronkowski, receiver Antonio Brown and running back Leonard Fournette, each of whom scored a touchdown against Kansas City.
Licht also used his first-round draft choice, 13th overall, on offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs, who started on the right side and surrendered only one sack this season blocking for Brady.
The first 12 games were a struggle for the Bucs, but then they put it together. They went from 7-5 after a home loss to the Chiefs to 15-5, including four consecutive victories as a wildcard team, the first three on the road before becoming the first team in history to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium.
What Brady accomplished was extraordinary. During the Bucs’ eight-game winning streak, they averaged 33.8 points and allowed 19.1. In the playoffs, they averaged 30.7 and surrendered 19.5.
While Mahomes was running for his football life being pressured by the Bucs’ relentless pass rush, Brady was coasting after the first half, during which he threw his three touchdown passes, including two to Gronkowski.
Bowles is known as one of the league’s most creative blitzers, but he dropped seven players on almost every snap, relying on his linemen to pursue Mahomes unmercifully. When coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy tried to counter, nothing worked.
Super Bowl LV will be a learning experience for Mahomes. It also will provide a blueprint for next season when Chiefs opponents try to game-plan Mahomes the way Bowles did. They’ve got an offseason to try to figure it out, and good luck with that.
As for Brady, he continues to amaze.
Over the last eight games, including four in the playoffs, Brady had 22 touchdown passes and four interceptions. In the Super Bowl, his 125.8 rating was his third-best of the season.
After beating Washington in the wild card round, Brady outplayed Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Mahomes — a troika for the ages.
In Brady’s six Super Bowl victories with the Patriots, they won by 4.1 points a game. They won once by more than six points. Even their three losses were close, averaging five points per defeat.
So where does Brady go from here? Back to the weight room and his fanatical fitness regimen to prepare him for turning 44 in August.
As for the Texans and Watson, they’ve got a lot to work out to keep from becoming the most ridiculed franchise in the NFL during this offseason.
Who knows if Watson will be the Texans’ starting quarterback when the 2021 season begins?
What we do know is this: Next season, Brady will try to do something quarterbacks like Mahomes, Rodgers, Brees, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Russell Wilson have been unable to do — win back-to-back Super Bowls.
No quarterback has been able to repeat since — drum roll, please — Brady ignited New England to consecutive victories in Super Bowls XXXVIII and XXXIX after the 2003 and 2004 seasons.