The Houston Texans may have had to wait a good few years before finally acquiring their franchise quarterback, but there is no denying that Deshaun Watson was worth the wait.
The third-year former Clemson starter enjoyed his first full NFL season in 2018 after a season-ending ACL injury in 2017 brought to an end an unbelievably promising rookie year. Since then he has gone from strength to strength, setting a new NFL record becoming the first player to pass for over 4,000 (4,165) yards and rush for more than 500 (551) in the same season.
Of course, there is always room for improvement and the Texans are excited with what they have seen from Watson so far this year.
“I think he was really good today,” said Bill O’Brien after their second joint practice with the Detroit Lions.
And the former New England Patriots offensive coordinator and sixth-year Texans head coach believes that he knows exactly where these improvements have come from.
Said O’Brien; “I think where he’s grown leaps and bounds is just experience – the experience of seeing NFL defenses, seeing different looks has been awesome for him and he’s got a great IBM, he’s got a great brain and he takes it all in and he’s able to learn from those experiences.”
The franchise will be hoping that with this newfound experience Watson will be more wary of when to give up on plays and avoid unnecessary sacks in 2019. In just two years and 23 regular-season appearances, he has been sacked 81 times for a loss of 500 yards.
While these were by no means all down to Watson if he can cut down on a loss of yardage here and there this offense can potentially reach its potential. And, more importantly, as a result, with Watson enduring less of the physical beating along the way, hopefully, Houston will see him take a further step up this season.
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