Houston Texans: 3 reasons why the winning streak ended vs the Colts

4 of 4

Houston Texans QB /

Deshaun Watson allowed too many coverage sacks

Deshaun Watson is, without a doubt, one of the best up and coming quarterbacks in the NFL. He is mobile but doesn’t look to run every time, he has an incredibly strong arm that makes balls look like they’ve been shot out of a gun. He has also now connected for a passing touchdown in 18 consecutive games.

However, there is still plenty Watson can improve on. He’s still working on mastering the playbook and working through his progressions. He’s improved a lot on calling audibles at the line of scrimmage but he can still improve there as well. But, one of the biggest things he needs to improve on is his timing in the pocket and how quickly he gets the ball out.

The Houston Texans have a pretty poor offensive line. They’ve been playing a lot better recently but a lot of that has been correlated with how quickly Watson is getting the ball out of his hands. The faster he does that, the less time the offensive line has to protect him. This, in turn, creates fewer sacks and pressures while the offense, as a whole, looks better.

More from House of Houston

On the season, Watson is second to last in time to throw, according to Next Gen Stats, taking 3.03 seconds per throw behind only Josh Allen. Now, this number has gone down a lot the past six or seven weeks but let’s take a look at the past couple of weeks.

Weeks 11-13 saw Watson and the offense performing at an extremely high level and every throw was coming out around 2.6 seconds into the snap. The offense, as well as Watson, was more efficient and effective in those weeks. In week 14, the ball was coming out of his hands over three seconds into the snap. The offense was less efficient and effective and he was pressured a lot more as a result.

Watson is going to need to work on getting the ball out of his hands faster and be more okay with throwing the ball away if the offense is going to continue being more effective as the playoffs come around. Bill O’Brien and the receivers can also help out with this by finding more creative ways to get open. This will also help hide problems along the offensive line and limit pressures and hits on Watson

dark. Next. Breaking down the Texans most ideal playoff scenarios

The Houston Texans still control their own destiny as far as the playoffs, and really the AFC South as well, go. They have a two-game lead in the division and should be able to win at least a couple more games to end the season.

Home/Houston Texans