The Houston Texans will start the coming season as one of the biggest wildcards: From 4th place in their own division to possible title ambitions, no scenario seems completely unthinkable – the question marks on some key positions are too big. At the same time, Houston will have to adjust after last season. If that succeeds, we could finally take the next step; and perhaps finally become a serious candidate for the title.
The proverbial elephant in the room cannot really be overlooked by the Texans: With Deshaun Watson and J.J. Watt, two mega stars and (hoped for) top performers come back after serious injuries and, due to their position, especially at Watson, everyone looks very closely: How did he overcome the cruciate ligament rupture? Is he the same old man? Is he as mobile as before?
“The rehab is going great, the knee is doing very, very well,” Watson had already revealed in an exclusive interview in March. “I’m on course to return before the start of the season and feel much stronger. I try to get better every day.”
Recently, after the first limited training sessions, he added: “My knee feels good. It was good to work with the guys on the timing and to be back on the pitch with the team at all. “Just work on the basics and build this chemistry among each other, which is the basis for mutual trust.”
Watson’s statements and impressions fit the general mood that is currently being heard in Houston. Head Coach Bill O’Brien also confirms this picture: “Working with a player like Deshaun is a lot of fun. He’s very smart. He loves football. Every day he wants to learn something new, he absorbs everything.”
Watson had six starts last season and no team from matchday two to eight scored more than Houston (202 points overall). Watson set a new record for most passing touchdowns in the first seven NFL games (19), with Houston scoring an average of 40.5 points in four games on the field with Watson, DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller against Tennessee, Kansas City, Cleveland and Seattle.
It was a quarterback-friendly and ultra-aggressive offense Houston played with Watson. O’Brien did a great job here after finally committing to Watson. The Texans fully aligned themselves with Watson’s strengths, relying heavily on shotgun and pistol formations as well as play action and run pass options. Watson’s mobility concealed the big problems in the offensive line, while flexible variations from similar formations made life difficult for Defense.
Of all the quarterbacks, Watson had the most Intended Air Yards on average – how far he threw the ball on average – and was the only quarterback above 11 (11.3). No one else scored more than 10.8, and on average, his passes also flew further than any other quarterback (8.3; no other QB above 7.9), throwing 1.9 air yards behind the first-down markers. Also the league-wide top value.
It was a spectacular big-play opener, the duel with the Seahawks – the last injury suffered before Watson’s training – was one of the best games of the entire regular season. With Fuller, Hopkins and the play designs Houston could attack the field vertically in phases almost at will, and space was also created underneath. Lamar Miller saw the sixth least 8+ men boxes (24.37 percent) of all running backs with at least 200 runs last season.
So everything prepared to really attack again next year? It won’t be that easy. You could argue more: The Texans will have to adjust and yet will not be able to repeat the statistics of the past season, which simply cannot be produced constantly.
Why? One major reason is the offensive line. The Texans have one of the weakest lines in the league, including Zach Fulton and Senio Kelemente’s free agent commitments for the Interior Line.
In Run-Blocking Houston 2017 was at least still lower average, in Pass-Protection however one of the weakest lines at all. This was particularly clear in games where Watson was not on the pitch. Fewer mobile quarterbacks had hardly any air to breathe behind the line.
O-Line-Coach Mike Devlin makes no secret of this: “I learned that Deshaun Watson helped us to a much better offensive line. He is mobile, with him on the pitch the defense sometimes has to act more slowly. “The things you can do with him really give you an edge.”
The path to this point can be traced back quite easily: Xavier Su’a-Filo, the number 33 overall pick for 2014, was a complete bust, while on the center position without Ben Jones there was inconsistency and Brandon Brooks was let go to replace him with Jeff Allen – a catastrophic decision.
In addition, there were some injuries and hardly any reinforcements over the draft, and in the end the fight with Left Tackle Duane Brown was so fought that the best O-Liner by far was cycled to Seattle during the pre-season. Today Davenport and Henderson would be the starting tackles, Derek Newton should take over a spot after a long injury break until September. No rosy prospects, not only because the Jaguars are up against twice in the regular season alone.
Page 1: Deshaun Watson, a spectacular offense – and the problem child
Page 2: How does Houston rebuild the offense? What about the defense?