The X-Factor. Sports’ most over-used cliché. Sometimes, however, that cliché is appropriate. A prime example would be for the quarterback of the Houston Texans, Deshaun Watson.
Watson, 24, grew as a college legend at Clemson for his ability to storm back and complete comebacks. His last pass at the NCAA ranks was a game-winning one in the College Football Playoff title game to come back down 10 against the Alabama Crimson Tide. That’s passed over to the pros.
On Jan. 4, in the wild card round, Watson helped the Texans storm back from down 16-0 midway through the third quarter to beat the Buffalo Bills in overtime, 22-19. That’s no surprise to his fellow X-Factor teammate, J.J. Watt.
“The guy has done it all year long, and like we’ve always said, you’re never out of a game when you’re on this team because of what we’ve got at the quarterback position,” Watt said on Wednesday.
In 2019, Watson constructed six game-winning drives, the most in the NFL. Contrary to previous quarterbacks in Houston, he has the best quality in sports; when the game is on the line, he plays better. His team feeds off of the energy of the third-year passer.
“He’s done such a great job, so all we needed was a little spark and then the offense did a great job, the defense did a great job,” Watt said. “We know what we’re capable of, we just have to do it and we have to have that energy and that drive from the start of the game, and I think that that’s obviously our goal this coming week is to not wait until the second half to do that.”
Against the Bills, the Texans dug themselves into a hole, as they entered halftime down 13-0. Though Watson can dig them out, that’s not the goal against the Kansas City Chiefs. If all goes right, Houston won’t need Watson to be a hero to advance to the AFC Championship Game.