Last year it took Deshaun Watson a little time to get acclimated to the NFL, but once he did the results were staggering. After an anemic first two starts, he almost engineered an upset at the Patriots and then took off like a rocket. In the four games after that, he threw for 292.8 yards per game, with 16 touchdowns to only five interceptions, and averaged a ridiculous 9.44 yards per pass. Though his rookie season came to an abrupt end after he tore an ACL during an early November practice, Watson had given the Texans plenty of reason to believe they finally had a franchise quarterback.



A big part of Watson’s success in that four-game stretch was Bill O’Brien’s ability to alter his offense to fit his quarterback’s strengths. Not only was the coach fully committed to adding spread concepts to his playbook, but also he designed an explosive play-action passing game that isn’t often employed by spread teams.



Triple option



One of...