I think both things are true. Oline needs to be improved upon and Watson needs to get the ball out quicker. I think the main issue with Watson is that he often looks for big plays instead of just taking what is there. I think he reads blitzes just fine and coverage just fine, he's just too greedy and I remember him saying that he's trying to score a TD on every play.
It was a rude awakening for Juatson but don't be so discouraged. I'll write down some 1st time performances and you match the qb. You just can't throw away the little baby with the bath water. It's a maturation process. First three play off appearances @age 23, 24 and 25 : 61 rtg, 81 rtg, 31 rtg First playoff appearance@ age 25: 55.5 rtg First Playoff appearance @ age 22: 61.3 rtg First Playoff appearance @ age 24: 35 rtg. In no order// Bathroom Casanova,Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning.
I personally have all the faith in the world that Watson will learn how to read blitzes and get the ball out on time eventually but the one thing that worries me is that there's a group of people that are superfans of his for non-football reasons that will always blame all of his flaws on everyone else or just straight up ignore that they exist. That kind of nonsense is really counter productive and can stifle the growth of players if that kind of stuff gets in their head. Call it the Vince Young effect if you like. The fact that he was quick to throw the O line under the bus for plays where he just threw inaccurate passes is a VERY bad sign IMO. No QB who performed as poorly as he did yesterday has any business throwing ANYONE under the bus. Now I think he's smart enough to tune out those kinds of people and focus on what he needs to do in order to get better, but many QB's in the past have failed to do so and instead bought into their own hype long before it was deserved. Watson has a long way to go if he's ever to be a top tier QB, if he stops putting in the work he won't be a franchise quality QB long term.
No I think it was the frustration built over the entire season sure he had some bad throws but this O-line doesn’t have any starters in it besides nick Martin. Yes he shouldn’t have said that but it was true the he was getting pressured I’ve never seen an O-line get pushed back so much like this one did in a season and the penalties in his the Redzone damn near every trip. Yes he does still have things to improve on he is 2nd he QB that has played 23/24 games. My worry is they don’t fix the O-line and his internal clock is shot for the long haul.
This. It got on my ****ing nerves watching that ****. That behavior lacks maturity and self awareness. Hopefully he can grow the **** up
That's factually inaccurate. This O line isn't anywhere near as bad as the narrative that is being pushed. Does it need improvement? Of course, but for the most part the O line is used as a scapegoat for those who don't want to blame the awful play calling and Watson's struggles. Something like 2/3 of the total sacks Watson took this season (40+) were 4.5 seconds or more after the snap....and the O line got blamed for most of them. Sorry but the QB has to get the ball out on time and Watson consistently failed to do that all season long. Now we can blame that on a lot of things including BOB's godawful play calling and offensive schemes but at least part of it is Watson failing to see open receivers.....something that happened WAY too often this season. Watson cannot have another season where his average time to pass is over 3 seconds, it's just asking too much from a mediocre O line. Philip Rivers had an even worse O line this season than the Texans, but he gets the ball out nearly a half second quicker on average than Watson and he was sacked half as many times as Watson despite not being the most mobile QB in the world. On top of that, Rivers has the experience to where he's not often fooled by blitzes the way Watson is. My point is that he's not there yet, and we can't just pretend like his flaws don't exist or are someone else's fault.
How many of those were 4.5 seconds after the snap because Watson had to be scrambling for his life almost immediately after the snap?
I don't have those numbers, but sure, there were probably several of those....but then why didn't he throw the ball away to avoid the drive killing sack? If you have that kind of time, even if you created most of it yourself, you can throw the ball away. My main point is that we need a coaching staff that can teach him to get the ball out quicker. The Texans run WAY too many long developing plays for a team that has a struggling O line and a QB that likes to hold on to the ball too long. It's setting him up for failure IMO.
Now if you REALLY want to see a garbage O line, look no further than the Raiders. Derek Carr had the quickest release in the NFL and was still sacked 51 times and I'm not sure how many were directly charged to him due to misreading defenses or whatever, but it was fewer than 7 because he didn't show up anywhere near the top of the list.
Now one thing no one mentions is Watson won’t need to be rehabbing he can go into the offseason and work on his craft something he really couldn’t do last year
Deshaun has his faults. I'm confident that he will work to fix them over the off-season. But let's not forget. Deshaun has been in the league 2 seasons and has made NFL history in both.
Is he perfect? No. Will he get better? Of course. Was he frustrated with the bad performance in the lost, which was his first in playoffs and over 2 scores? Yes. Did he throw the OL under the bus? Yes and they can tell you they deserved it and heads will roll. Will there be new players on the OL next season? Count on it and may not be all but likely 2 or 3 may be changed. I actually like that DW said it like it is. Can't throw if you don't have the time and while he didn't mention he was not playing well, he knows. I think this is an absolute shot at the front office to do something substantial to fix this OL. This game was lost when Fuller and then DT was lost for season. And then DH gets hurt in game. Who is he going to throw to? Then Defence lays an egg. Down 21 and all she blows. This will be a tough division with Luck back and they have a running game and rising defense.
definitely. I'm extremely excited about it. Postpone the superbowl and go straight to the draft. some people want everything all at once with Deshaun. It was a brutal performance for him, defense and the middle of that o-line. But it's not like Deshaun is 35 yrs of age, considered one of the best but keeps putting up average performances in the playoffs every year he's in them.
Disappointing playoff game, but Watson's knee should be more fully recovered next season on those runs, Bright future
