One of the hard-luck situations that still follows around Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is the amount of pressure he takes on drop-backs.
Going off of sacks alone, the former 2017 first-round pick has sustained 125 sacks with an NFL-high 62 in 2018. Though the sack total dropped to 44 in 2019, sixth-most in the NFL, Watson tends to throw under inordinate duress.
According to Pro Football Focus, some of that pressure may be invited. The Texans’ specific Twitter account for PFF posted on Sunday that Watson has had 98 pressured allowed since 2017, the second-most in the NFL. And that is even with Watson missing nine games his rookie season (note: while he did not start Week 1, he did replace Tom Savage, thus seven games played, six starts).
Tim Kelly told reporters on May 20 that they have talked with Watson about improving, although the second-year offensive coordinator was speaking in a general sense and not specifically about Watson’s holding onto the ball too long.
“He’s set the bar so high, so it’s really a challenge for him to be able to play at that level every time he steps on the field,” Kelly said.
If the Texans can fix Watson’s penchant for taking too many pressures, then Houston’s offense will be able to reach another dimension in 2020.
