WATSON SHOWS WHY OPEN JOBS ARE ATTRACTIVE.
Despite big numbers, Watson eager to lead team back to winning ways after bad year
Deshaun Watson watched the football bounce through the uprights on a last-second field goal that represented a painful ending to the Texans’ horrible season.
Seconds after a 41-38 defeat to the Titans on Sunday, yet another bitter disappointment for a 4-12 team that fired coach/general manager Bill O’Brien after an 0-4 start and endured eight one-score losses, the Texans’ $156 million quarterback reflected on what it all meant.
“I just turned to some of the guys that were right beside me and just told them I love them and appreciate them for everything that they did this year,” Watson said. “I just went over and congratulated Tennessee and some of the players and told them good luck in the playoffs and just kind of walked off the field.
“I don’t know how I was really feeling. It’s weird. I’ve never missed a playoff as a full-time starter inmywhole life. My rookie year, I got hurt. It’s a weird feeling to end the season right now.”
Watson delivered another stellar performance against the Titans, capping a statistically superior season by displaying accuracy, arm strength, timing and competitiveness.
Watson reinforcedwhy the Texans’ head coach and general manager vacancies are considered highly attractive. He became the NFL passing yardage leader with a franchise-record 4,823 yards and is the first player with 12 or more losses to lead the NFL in that category since Jeff George for the 1997 Raiders.
“Just in my DNA, nothing changed for me,” Watson said. “I just continue to grow, and it just showed the passion and the energy and just the love of the game, the love of the relationships, the love of the preparation that I bring each and every day toward this game. And what it’s all about for meis really just making other people around me better.”
Watson completed 28 of 39 passes for 365 yards, three touchdowns and one interception Sunday despite being sacked four times. He had a 115.9 passer rating and passed Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who sat out Sunday, for the most passing yards in the league.
Despite the trade of All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins during the offseason, Will Fuller’s season-ending suspension and Randall Cobb’s season-ending toe injury, Watson kept the football spinning as he adapted to a different group of receivers led by Brandin Cooks.
“We play to a standard; that’s what I’m all about,” Watson said. “Whoever is out there is going to play to a standard, and that’swhat I wanted to continue to grow and keep pushing. That was pretty dope to kind of accomplish that. I know Pat didn’t play this game, and that would have been a little more tighter and things like that, but yeah, it’s pretty dope as an individual and as a stat to be able to do the things I did this year.”
Cooks caught 11 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns on 16 targets against the Titans. After a slow start, Cooks’ chemistry with Watson grew toward the end of the season, and he finished with 81 receptions for 1,150 yards and six touchdowns.
“I feel like there’s still room to grow,” Cooks said. “He’s a special player, and I’ve just got to continue to learn howhe likes his receivers to do things, and hopefully I can continue to do that, and we can continue to grow together.”
Watson surpassed Matt Schaub’s single-season franchise record for passing yardage. Watson passed for 33 touchdownsand just seven interceptions. Watson and Drew Brees in 2011 and 2016 are the only quarterbacks to throw for 4,500 yards while completing at least 70 percent of their passes.
Watson is the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for at least 4,800 yards and rush for 400. He also had the eighth-best passer rating (112.4) in league history.
“He’s a great quarterback,” Texans defensive end J. J. Watt said. “He’s going to continue to be a great quarterback and improve even more and be even better. I’m excited to watch his growth continue.”
Now Watson wants to be an agent of change for the organization by working in tandem with Texans chairman and chief operating officer CalMcNair to identify the right leaders to turn around a team that nosedived this season after winning the two previous AFC South titles.
“Man, it just starts with the energy and just the foundation of this program,” Watson said. “There’s no real foundation in view. Everyone sees it. Everyone knows that. Got to have a guy that can come in and stand strong, stand 10 toes down and (say), ‘Hey, this is theway it’sgoingtogo, and this is the way we’re going to win.’
“That’s what we need. It’s kind of just up in the air right now. That’s what I’m looking forward to: some disciplined responsibility and some good, fun energy that cares about winning championships and winning games but at the same time is coming in towork each and every day regardless.”