Houston Texans: Deshaun Watson’s tweaks are yielding positive results

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson has tweaked his offensive mindset and it’s yielding positive results. What’s going on? Let’s examine.

Houston Texans fans — after five weeks of action, this team is very much in the conversation as far making something meaningful out of this season.  The playoffs are certainly in question but it’s something that we’ll have to evaluate week by week.

But honestly, if you’re a Houston Texans‘ fan or have an invested stake in the team, you’d want more than just a playoff berth.  This team needs to not only win a playoff series but they need to find a way to get to the AFC Championship Game.

If they do get there, I’d consider this season being a successful one not only because of the competitive balance of the AFC but will be something that this team has never achieved in its 18 seasons of existence.

They have the talent — as well as the tools — to get themselves there but it remains to be seen where this team ends up when the dust settles.  One week we love what we see and the next involves us witnessing if this team has to go back to the drawing board again.

One thing that I feel has finally come around is the offense after last week’s performance against the Atlanta Falcons.

The Houston Texans had 592 yards of offense this past Sunday, nearly 44.9 percent of the total offensive yards through the first four games of the season (1,317).

It truly was a jewel to behold and the formula was simple and it involved our franchise QB in Deshaun Watson.

If you noticed, Watson was not holding onto the ball as he usually does for a few extra seconds with each snap and was quickly getting rid of it.

This strategy does two things — keeps those chains moving forward and puts less pressure on the offensive line to hold back the influx of lineman trying to find their way to sack DW4.  He wasn’t sacked once and that hasn’t happened since Oct. 25, 2018, against the Miami Dolphins, where a similar exhibition was offense was delivered in a 42-23 win.

But I do think that the difference is that Watson is taking what the defense is giving him and not trying to force things that are not there.

This strategy enabled Will Fuller to get free and be able to notch a career-high 217 receiving yards off 14 catches and three touchdowns.

Watson’s performance also has earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors after

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completing a hell of a show on turf.  He finished up going 28-for-33 for 426 yards, five touchdowns and a perfect 158.3 passer rating.  The NFL was going to be hard-pressed to find anybody else who could match that stat line and DW4 now wins this award for the second time this season.

I think his lackluster showing against the Carolina Panthers in the week previous lighted a fire in him and he even had a personal throwing session postgame just to work some things out his mind.  I honestly think he’s figured this dilemma out.

If he keeps this up, this won’t be the last time he earns it this season and I think this will be more a way for him to stay healthy and not take the hits he had been in previous games.

The Houston Texans will be forking out tons of cash to Watson likely the season after next and it’s on Bill O’Brien to come up with a game plan to keep this man upright.  It seems that has happened and I hope that it continues to work as they charge through the 2019 season.

Congrats Deshaun — keep it up — go Houston Texans!

Watson has passed for 1,364 yards along with 11 touchdowns to one interception for a 115.9 QB rating through his first five starts this season.