The H-Town special almost wasn’t a special.
The Houston Texans’ creative Duke Johnson handoff to DeAndre Hopkins pitch to Deshaun Watson nearly didn’t happen. Watson didn’t like what he saw on the play, as the New England Patriots were playing a zone defense rather than man.
“Honestly it wasn’t the perfect look,” Watson told reporters after the 28-22 win. “We wanted man coverage where the safety was one backer here. They went kind of like a two-high look. It was funky at first. I wanted to check out of it.”
Watson wanted man. He didn’t get it. The timing was right, so was the personnel. Despite not getting the right defense, he went for it.
On first-and-goal with 9:58 left in the fourth, Watson handed it off to Johnson, Hopkins sprinted behind them, took the ball, hauled towards the end zone, then, at the last moment, he pitched it to Watson. Touchdown Texans.
“But I was like, ‘No, this is a perfect time.’ We got it here. If we don’t run it now, probably never run it. So I was like forget it. Me and Hop (DeAndre Hopkins) will make something work. He pulled up. The safety, the corner was sitting out there, I think it was J.C. Jackson. I saw Hop tuck it, took one step, and I knew he was going to pitch it right out. I just know Hop like the back of my hand. He just threw it up in the air, I got it, scored. It was cool,” said Watson.
Ultimately, Watson did not check out of the play. The result: six points, confusion and a score that would eventually finish off a monumental win, drop the Patriots 10-2, and relegate New England to the No. 2 seed for now due to Baltimore Ravens having the tiebreaker over the top team in the AFC East.
Hopkins was credited for the touchdown pass on the play, while Watson came down with a six-yard touchdown reception. Most importantly, it capped off a win.
If Watson checked out of it, who knows what would have happened?