I never believed in miracles. It was a load of nonsense, I thought. There is no supernatural influence over our world. I mean, for god’s sake, if miracles were real, how could one explain entities like Brock Osweiler? Miracles were for Church goers and stories, not real life. Oh what a fool I was. For I was blind, but now I see. Deshaun Watson has changed me.

The should-have-been Rookie of the Year, Deshaun Watson stunned the NFL with his early season emergence. Drafted at 12th overall in the 2017 draft, after the Texans traded their 2016 (27th overall) and 2017 (4th overall) first round draft picks to the Cleveland Browns, Watson had a lot of expectations placed on his shoulders upon being drafted, whether anyone acknowledged it at the time or not. Not only had the Texans given up a hefty price to acquire Watson, but Watson was drafted by the team that had just come off one of the most embarrassing (ok, THE most embarrassing…) free agent busts of all time, Brock Osweiler. Osweiler was an abject failure for the Houston Texans, following a long line of QB failures in Houston, including stud muffins Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett. Deshaun Watson wasn’t just going to a team desperate for a QB; he was going to a franchise whose 2nd best QB in franchise history was either Brian Hoyer or Ryan Fitzpatrick, both of whom only lasted one season with the team. All things considered, it’s safe to assume that there was a fair amount of pressure placed upon the 22 year old former college phenom. So, how did Watson respond to this pressure?

126/204 (61.8%)

1699 Yards

19 Tds

8 Ints

8.3 YPA

81.5 QBR

(per pro football reference)

Like an absolute boss. Though he played only 7 games (starting 6 of them), Deshaun Watson put the entire NFL on notice: there’s a new sheriff in town, now GTFO of my way, or face my wrath. Watson took a floundering offense and made it the best in the NFL. He went toe-to-toe e with Tom Brady in Foxborough. He was entering top 5 lists in virtually every positive statistical category. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be when the season started, though. Watson was never actually supposed to start in 2017, according to Head Coach Bill O’Brien. 4th year, um, “veteran”, Tom Savage was to take control of the offense for 2017, and he was going to be fine! From the moment Deshaun Watson was drafted, O’Brien insisted that Savage was the starter, a position he stuck to throughout the offseason, and into the regular season. After all, Watson was a rookie, coming out of a spread offense, while Savage was O’Brien’s pet project, who had spent the better part of four years learning the Bill O’Brien offense. OTA’s came around, and reports on Savage were glowing; DeAndre Hopkins came out and endorsed Savage as the starter, and that was the end of it.

As training camp rolled around, nothing changed: Savage had command of the offense, Watson was still learning, competing, and so on. As the preseason games trundled along, Watson did little to displace Savage, who put together several solid, but unspectacular, games. While it was clear that Savage was not the answer, Watson looked very much like a rookie; missing throws, staring down receivers, calling the wrong plays, etc. In short, he did not look at all like the QB who would show up in week 3. And so, as the dust settled entering the season, Tom Savage remained entrenched as the starting QB. Week one was not going to be a problem, as the Texans would be facing the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars. Tom Savage should be able to manage the game, no problem.

And then…

Utter bedlam. Tom Savage was sacked 6 (SIX!) times in the first half (fumbling on two of these, with one being returned for a TD. Being strip sacked was a specialty for Tom Savage), completing 7 of his 13 passes for a measly 62 yards. The offense failed to do anything, managing just three first downs in the first half, with just 79 yards of total offense. Going into the half trailing the Jags 19-0, Bill O’Brien decided to ignore literally everything that he had been saying since early May, and benched Tom Savage for the rookie, ushering in the Deshaun Watson era in Houston. Entering the 2nd half down 19 points, Watson put together a 14 play, 75 yard drive, completing his first career touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins for the Texans first, and it turns out only, TD of the game. Watson came out strong, but then struggled to get anything consistent going against a stout Jaguars defense, as the Texans would go on to lose 29-7. Watson would finish the game just 12-23 for 102 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT. Watson also ran it twice for 16 yards, along with being sacked 3 times (resulting in one fumble). Watson looked capable at times, but still looked very much like a rookie trying to adjust to the speed and ferocity of the NFL. Watson was named the starter a few days later (after O’Brien refused to confirm that Savage had indeed been benched after only one half), as the team sought to put their embarrassing defeat to the Jags behind them.

Facing a quick turn around (thanks to Thursday Night Football, perhaps the single dumbest and most reductive idea that the NFL has ever put into practice), Watson had a tough test to face in the Cincinnati Bengals defense. No one expected much out the 22 year old rookie on the day of his birthday (though Mia Khalifa would beg to differ), and outside of a few stand out plays, Watson again looked like a rookie struggling to adjust to the NFL. Despite these struggles. Watson put on a gutsy performance, taking several crushing hits (and sacks) from human-coke-machine Geno Atkins. One of these was very much of the, “welcome to the NFL, kid,” kind of hits:

That’s the kind of hit that can give a young QB pause when he drops back. It might make a QB nervous about getting hit. “That’ll wipe all of the confidence off,” muses Mike Tirico. Watson must be shook up after being decleated like that, right? After all, after an incompletion the next play, it’s 3rd and 15. Surely the Texans are just going to run a draw, get the offense off the field, punt, and let Watson watch the Microsoft Surface film of Atkins smacking him down. Watson didn’t fumble the ball on the hit, so at least that’s good. Now hand it off to Miller for 3 yards and get off the field. There’s only 1:02 left in the half, just get to halftime tied at 3. Let’s see what Deshaun thought of that idea:

A 49 yard scamper, reminiscent of Mike Vick, Watson escapes the pocket, leaves every defender in the dust, and strolls into the endzone. “Take that, Geno Atkins!”, exclaims Chris Collinsworth. Though they would continue to struggle on offense for the rest of the game (this would again be the Texans only TD), the Texans would manage to hold on for their first victory of the season, defeating the Bengals 13-6, with TJ Yates nowhere in sight. So, through “two” weeks (seriously NFL, enough with TNF. Kill it.) Watson has performed about as well as could have been expected of him. He wasn’t making any horrific decisions with the ball, he was moving the offense, he was making plays with his feet, and he was locating DeAndre Hopkins. Despite a few flashes, though, Watson’s overall numbers were rather pedestrian. 27 completions on 47 attempts (57%), 227 yards passing, 1 TD, and 1 INT, along with 83 yards and a TD on 7 rushing attempts. The numbers (and the film) showed a rookie QB, who just might be out of his depth.

Adding to the perils of a rookie Qb starting, all three of the Texans Tight Ends were injured, their first round wide receiver from a year ago was still inactive, and the offensive line had all competence of a Zack Snyder directed DC superhero movie. To make matters worse, the Texans next opponent was New England Patriots, in Foxborough, where rookie QBs go to die. Despite a few promising signs out of rookie QB Deshaun Watson, things were looking very bleak for this week 3 match up. Fans and media all seemed to agree: Deshaun Watson doesn’t have a chance in hell vs Bill Belichick and the defending Super Bowl Champion Patriots.

Part II coming soon!

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