What makes Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson dangerous to opposing defenses is his ability to be just as dynamic as a rusher as he is as a passer.
However, a quarterback isn’t helpful to his team if he gets hurt running the football as his main job is leading the passing game. Watson has to ride that fine lead for Houston’s offense, and coach Bill O’Brien believes the answer is to let the field general play the game his way.
“I think that one of the things that makes him a great player is that he’s got excellent instincts for the game,” O’Brien told reporters Wednesday. “So, I think at the end of the day you need to let him play.”
O’Brien, who is 2-3 in the playoffs after spending his first six seasons coaching the Texans, says that when he does have to intervene, it’s not frequent.
“I think there’s certainly times that you point out that ‘Hey, maybe you can make a better decision here,’ but not very often,” said O’Brien. “You’ve got to let them play the game, you got to let them see it, you’ve got to let him do what he does best.”
Watson’s ability to take hits was one of the elements the Texans look at when they considered drafting him leading up to the 2017 NFL draft.
Said O’Brien: “I think that the other thing you look at is when you watch film and you think about phrases like ‘playing strength’ and things like that, how they play the game and how they’re able to withstand hits. That’s one of the things to be an NFL quarterback, you’ve got be able to stand in there and deliver the ball and take a hit, and that is definitely a factor when you’re looking at quarterbacks.”
Aside from missing nine games in 2017 with a torn ACL that was sustained in practice, not in a live game, Watson has not missed any time with the Texans, save for Week 17 versus the Tennessee Titans when Houston chose to rest their starters for the wild-card playoffs versus the Buffalo Bills.