The Houston Texans spent their offseason acquiring and keeping their speedy talent to have an effective deep passing game. After all, Deshaun Watson is one of the best deep ball quarterbacks in the game today.
However, the Texans’ deep passing attack was not to be found in the 34-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs Thursday night at Arrowhead Stadium. Brandin Cooks, who the Texans traded a second-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams to acquire, caught just two passes for 20 yards on five targets.
While Watson says he played sharp against the Chiefs, completing 20-of-32 for 253 yards, a touchdown, and an interception, the two-time Pro Bowler admits Kansas City took away their deep passing game.
“Yeah, I mean, I was sharp,” Watson said. “I took what the defense gave me, and they took away a lot of the deep shots. I tried to get my guys some opportunities to make plays. And sometimes we capitalized, sometimes we didn’t. We just have to continue to grow from there. I did what I needed to do to stay as close as possible and keep this team in reach to try to win the game.”
One Texans receiver who was not materially affected by the Chiefs taking away the deep passing game was Will Fuller, who still found opportunities with eight catches for 112 yards on 10 targets.
“He has the opportunity to be very explosive and very successful,” said Watson. “He did a good job of making some plays tonight. We’re going to continue to grow, continue to build our confidence together and that chemistry. He has an opportunity to make a lot of big plays for us.”
The Texans need to find a way to cultivate those big plays and fast. The Baltimore Ravens come to NRG Stadium on Sept. 20 for a Week 2 showdown that risks Houston starting the season 0-2 for the first time since 2018.