The night before the Houston Texans took on the Buffalo Bills in the AFC wild-card Saturday at NRG Stadium, Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon sent quarterback Deshaun Watson some encouraging words.
Who knows what Moon told Watson specifically? Aside from both being franchise quarterbacks of their respective NFL teams in Houston, the two have shared a bond since Watson entering the league as a first-round pick in 2017.
“For him to take time out of his day, to take time out of his life and his career and his family to be able to just give me advice, to hit me up randomly and call me and whatever, whenever we see each other in the offseason, he always come up to me and talk to me,” Watson told reporters after the 22-19 overtime win against the Bills. “I mean, it’s special.”
Unlike Moon, who was subject to the Bills coming back against his Houston team, now known as the Tennessee Titans, in the 1992 AFC wild-card, Watson executed a comeback with the Texans, a totally separate franchise, to at least help Houston sports fans exorcise the demons of having Buffalo spoil their postseason dreams.
Watson couldn’t have had the opportunity if not for what Moon accomplished in his Hall of Fame career.
Said Watson: “For me to be able to look up to someone like that, and for him to pave the way for a lot of us young quarterbacks coming up, it’s special. So I definitely don’t take that for granted, and I appreciate him for sure.”
The city of Houston appreciates Watson, too, and his efforts to propel the Texans to the divisional round of the playoffs. Now, the Texans will take on another franchise that bested Moon in his last game in Houston: the Kansas City Chiefs. The Texans travel to Arrowhead Stadium for a 2:05 p.m. CT kickoff on Jan. 12, and Watson could use more encouraging words from Moon.