Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson was a huge beneficiary of his receivers’ ability to generate yards after the catch in Week 9.
In the Texans’ 27-25 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday afternoon at TIAA Bank Field, Watson completed 19-of-32 for 281 yards and two touchdowns. According to Pro Football Focus, over 70% of his passing yards were thanks to the Texans’ receiving corps’ tremendous yards after the catch.
It’s been somewhat lost in the poor start to the season for Houston, but Watson has played like one of the best quarterbacks in the league. His 86.3 PFF grade coming into the week ranked fifth among 32 qualifying quarterbacks.
This performance against Jacksonville isn’t going to be one of Watson’s best of the season from a grading standpoint, but the results were strong thanks in part to contributions from his playmakers and the futile efforts of the Jaguars defensively. Two long touchdown passes to Brandin Cooks and Will Fuller with a combined 111 yards after the catch will go a long way to padding the stat sheet. Over 70% of Watson’s passing yards in the game came after the catch — the highest single-game mark in his career.
While Watson is pleased with the win and also the big day that wideout Will Fuller had with five catches for 100 yards and a touchdown, and even Brandin Cooks’ three catches for 83 yards and a touchdown, Watson fixates on the Texans’ inability to crush Jacksonville in the fourth quarter.
“I feel like, honestly, we could have done even a better job of really putting the game away when we had opportunities, but we didn’t capitalize,” Watson said. “They did a good job, got to give them credit scheming up the third down, a couple third down pressures to get us off the field. We could’ve punched at least 10 more points, a touchdown and a field goal, in the fourth quarter that could’ve really put the game away.
“But that’s a good learning lesson for us to carry over to next week and really try to do that especially when we go on the road.”
The Texans face the Cleveland Browns Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT at FirstEnergy Stadium for a Week 10 bout. The 5-3 Browns are a great test for a 2-6 Texans squad looking to finally get on track in 2020.
