Houston Texans: ESPN.com predicts high sack total for Deshaun Watson

HOUSTON, TX - JANUARY 05: Deshaun Watson #4 of the Houston Texans is forced to scramble under pressure by Margus Hunt #92 of the Indianapolis Colts and Anthony Walker #50 in the third quarter during the Wild Card Round at NRG Stadium on January 5, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - JANUARY 05: Deshaun Watson #4 of the Houston Texans is forced to scramble under pressure by Margus Hunt #92 of the Indianapolis Colts and Anthony Walker #50 in the third quarter during the Wild Card Round at NRG Stadium on January 5, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /
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The Houston Texans saw their quarterback Deshaun Watson sacked 60-plus times last season. Will that happen again in 2019?

Last season was a tough time for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson —  in his second season in the NFL — as he was sacked 62 times in the regular season, three times in the playoffs and was hit a total of 133 times.

In a recent ESPN.com article, ESPN Texans reporter Sarah Barshop was asked the following question: “Over/under 47.5 times sacked for quarterback Deshaun Watson?” Next is a portion of Barshop’s answer on ESPN.com:

"“Over. The Texans took steps to improving the offensive line that gave up 62 sacks last season, but given the way Watson plays — his average time to throw last season was 3.01 seconds, which ranked third slowest among passer-rating qualified passers …”"

Because of the style of play Watson possesses, he is going to be hit a lot, and the question won’t be how many times he gets sacked because it is going to be a lot, but how many times he gets back up.

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The Texans did draft two players in the first two rounds of the 2019 NFL Draft in Tytus Howard and Max Scharping, but there is still a question of whether they will be ready to be in the starting lineup if not at the start of the season, but at some point in the 2019 regular season.

Besides drafting those two players and seeing the return of Seantreal Henderson (who missed the 2018 regular season), the offensive line still looks the same as it did a season ago.

The most recent offensive line starting lineup according to OurLads.com is as follows heading into training camp: Julie’n Davenport (left tackle), Senio Kelemete (left guard), Nick Martin (center), Zach Fulton (right guard) and Henderson (right tackle).

Watson will have to fend off tough pass rushes all season long, but he’s shown he’s durable and can take hits. That said, it is smart for a quarterback of any franchise to be hit by the defense the least amount possible — regardless of style of play — and Watson, the Texans coaching staff and their offensive line need to get on the same page and cut down the number of hits he receives this upcoming season.

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For the sake of the Texans, they better hope they’ve made the correct decisions and the number of times sacked goes down and is under 47, but that will be a tough feat to accomplish in 2019.