Houston Texans: Deshaun Watson less important than offensive line

The Houston Texans will start Deshaun Watson on Thursday Night Football, but the rookie is inconsequential if the offensive line doesn’t improve.

The Tom Savage era was gone before we ever got to realize that it happened with the Houston Texans. Despite the fact that head coach Bill O’Brien maintained that the former Pitt quarterback was his starter, Savage was benched after one poor half of play against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Then entered rookie Deshaun Watson.

Watson was marginally better than Savage, but the Texans still couldn’t climb out of a hole against their AFC South foes. And coming out of the game, Houston was left with the question of who would start at the position on Thursday Night Football as they take on the Cincinnati Bengals on the road.

On Tuesday, we got an answer to that question — albeit an expected one.

NFL Network’s James Palmer and Ian Rapaport confirmed that Watson will indeed make his first career NFL start on Thursday:

Frankly, this is where the Texans should’ve been all along. Though the sample size was small, we knew what Savage was. And for a Houston team that will always thrive on defense, getting a quarterback in with more upside always seemed the smarter decision — and that quarterback was always Watson.

More from Houston Texans

• Texans: Positive vibe still emanating from Houston
• CJ Stroud, DeMeco Ryans expected to establish a new culture with Texans
• NFL Schedule: 5 Franchises that will benefit from a weak strength of schedule
• The Houston Texans are going to be better than you think in 2023
• NFL 2023: Ranking the 5 worst wide receiver groups in the league

With that being said, Watson being the starter against the Bengals doesn’t change much for Houston. That’s not because he’s untalented and doesn’t have potential; he does. What it really comes down to is the fact that whoever starts at quarterback is irrelevant if the Texans offensive line doesn’t find a way to get it together.

In the loss to the Jaguars, the Houston O-line was simply reprehensible. Sure, Jacksonville has built a formidable defense through free agency and the draft. And the unit most certainly put it all together with a nice overall performance. Even still, they were made to look far better because of the Texans’ shortcomings in the trenches on offense.

According to Pro Football Focus Edge, the highest graded lineman for the Texans was center Nick Martin — he registered a paltry 54.0 mark and was only the 19th best at his position. That’s bad, but looks stellar compared to tackles Kendall Lamm (41.8 grade, 53rd best) and Breno Giacomini (29.4 grade, 61st best) and guards Greg Mancz (48.1 grade, 38th best), Xavier Su’a-Filo (43.8 grade, 44th best) and Jeff Allen (29.6 grade, 63rd best).

Looking at that type of performance, it’s no wonder that Jaguars defensive end Calais Campbell was able to set a franchise single-game record for sacks. They couldn’t stop a high schooler playing at the poor of a level. So that the offense averaged under four yards per carry and that Savage and Watson were sacked a combined 10 times shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Really, it’s hard to look at this and not think about the absence of tackle Duane Brown. Though he’s dealt with injuries, he’s still the class of the Texans offensive line. And without him, this unit apparently becomes a quintet of saloon doors.

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Defense shakes up early picks

Obviously Watson’s mobility makes him a better option than Savage so that, if the line stinks it up again, he has the potential to extend plays and move out of the pocket more so than Houston’s other option. But when that’s a key criteria, that’s a problem. Until the Texans figure something out up front, their offense is going to be lackluster at best regardless of who lines up under center.