Bouncing back on Texans minds this week
Despite the loss last Sunday, the Houston Texans remain in control of their own destiny with three games left on the schedule. The Texans can sew up the AFC South crown and playoff berth with a win over the New York Jets along with some help along the way.
With the Texans playing on Saturday, they have to increase the pace of their work week to get ready for the New York Jets. With the loss to the Indianapolis Colts fresh on their minds, head coach Bill O’Brien knows he has to get his team focused on their next opponent.
“I’m worried about the Jets,” O’Brien said of their recent loss. “I think it’s important for me to answer your questions about the previous game so I’m not going to sit up here and just ignore those questions because I do think in some ways, those apply to this game, but I’m not focused on anything other than correcting the mistakes from that game and then moving on to the Jets.”
With an up and down performance on Sunday, Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson knows he has to stay disciplined to the offense to give his team a chance to win. With some missed reads in both the passing game and blitz protections, Watson knows expectations are rising.
“Every week is a new opportunity,” Watson explained. “Win or lose the previous week, it’s 0-0. You’re only as good as what you do (with) the next opportunity. So, a new opportunity for us to be able to go out there and perform, try to get a W and do what the Houston Texans usually do.”
The Texans are one win away from double-digit wins for the first time in the O’Brien era and Watson has been a big part of the equation. The organization has changed with Watson at the helm and still learning the NFL game, he has thrown 3,298 yards with 22 touchdowns to nine interceptions while completing 66.9 percent of his passes. Watson has posted over a 100.0 passer rating in four of his last six starts.
“Every week is a great opportunity for me,” Watson continued. “Just because we’re going up to New York, it doesn’t make any difference if we were playing in another city. It’s a great opportunity for myself and for this team to go out there and perform at a high level. There’s always new levels and new opportunities for us to get better, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
The Texans have bought into what O’Brien preaches inside the building, that it is a week-to-week league and a team can win any day of the week. Game are becoming more important late in the season especially with an AFC South crown within their reach and a playoff appearance after a missing the postseason last season.
Watson was drafted for this reason, to be a big-game player. That experience has come from playing on the biggest stage in college with Clemson and the Texans are banking on that to pay off for the team with the games becoming more important.
“You only put pressure on yourself,” Watson said of the upcoming games. “For us, we don’t really put pressure on ourselves. We don’t really focus on that. Of course, we didn’t want to lose. We always want to win and try to continue to stack those, but it just kind of goes that way sometimes. It’s the National Football League. We just try to focus on the next opponent, the next game and try to get back in the win column.”
SERIES HISTORY: 8th regular-season meeting. Jets lead series, 5-2. In their last meeting in November, 2015, the Texans beat the Jets 24-17. The Texans have won the last two meetings between the two and in 2015, DeAndre Hopkins had his coming out party when he caught five passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns in a crucial game that season.
