Houston Texans: Deshaun Watson has winning record in primetime games
The Houston Texans will be playing in front of a national audience, and quarterback Deshaun Watson has led his team to more wins than losses.
In his three-year NFL career, Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is 5-3 in eight primetime games played, with wins over the Cincinnati Bengals (2017), Dallas Cowboys (2018), Miami Dolphins (’18), Tennessee Titans (’18) and the Indianapolis Colts (’19).
The two primetime losses have come against the Kansas City Chiefs (’17) and the New Orleans Saints (’19). The loss to the Chiefs was on Oct. 8, 2017 by a 42-34 score, where Watson was 16-of-31 for 261 yards, five touchdown passes and no interceptions. In that game, he had a rating of 119.8, plus he rushed for 31 yards on three carries.
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This season in Week 1 (Sept. 9, 2019), the Texans lost by a 30-28 score, where Watson was 20-of-30 for 268 yards with three touchdown passes and one interception, as his rating that game was 114.3. Watson also rushed for 40 yards on four carries with one touchdown.
Now for the good stuff, and that is the five wins by Watson since he’s been the quarterback of the Texans. The following are the scores and stats for the aforementioned five primetime wins:
• Sept, 14, 2017: 13-9 win against the Bengals: 15-of-24, 125 yards passing with no touchdowns or interceptions. Watson also rushed five times for 67 yards and one touchdown.
• Oct. 7, 2018: 19-16 win over the Cowboys: 33-of-44 for 375 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Watson rushed 10 times for 40 yards.
• Oct. 25, 2018: 42-23 win against the Dolphins: 16-of-20 for 239 yards with five touchdown passes with a rating of 156.0. Watson in the win also ran for 14 yards on one rush.
• Nov. 26, 2018: 34-17 win over the Titans: 19-of-24 for 210 yards passing for two touchdowns with no interceptions. Watson in the win had a 130.9 rating, plus he rushed for 70 yards and one touchdown on nine carries.
• Nov. 21, 2019: 30-19 win against the Colts: 19-of-30 for 298 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. In this most recent primetime win, Watson had a rating of 104.6, and he rushed for 10 yards on three carries.
ESPN.com staff writer Mike Reiss quoted Patriots safety Duron Harmon about Watson before the game on Sunday night:
"“We have to do a good job of just trying to keep him in the pocket, and make him beat us from being in the pocket. Don’t let him run around, because when he’s scrambling and running around, that’s when he’s at his best.”"
In his eight total primetime games from 2017-19 thus far Watson is 138-of-203 for 1,776 yards with 18 touchdowns and only three interceptions. Watson’s rating in those games is 118.6, plus he’s rushed for 272 yards on 35 carries with three rushing touchdowns.
This Sunday night, the Texans and Watson might have their toughest game to date in facing the Patriots, but these are the kind of games Houston and their quarterback need to play in if they want to show everyone how good they can be against the better teams of the league.
Watson and the Texans need to keep putting the poor performance of two games ago, against the Ravens, behind them.
Next. Texans listed as underdogs vs. Patriots. dark
The win over the Colts last Thursday night was a great game, but a win against the Patriots would mean more than just a mark in the win column. It could provide the momentum that the Texans need to make a big-time push to the playoffs.