Texans rookie Deshaun Watson only completed three of the 10 passes he attempted against the Patriots on Saturday night, but he ran for a touchdown and a couple of those passes went for big gains that set up 10 Houston points while he was in the game.
Both of those big gains came courtesy of long runs after the catch by wide receiver Bruce Ellington and running back D’Onta Foreman, although coach Bill O’Brien credited Watson with doing “some good things” during a night with more ups and downs than his preseason debut.
“I did a decent job,” Watson said, via the Houston Chronicle. “I did what I needed to do to try to move the ball to help the team out. There’s always things I can get better at. I’m going to watch the film and I’m going to continue to work on that.”
Tom Savage was 8-of-9 for 98 yards before giving way to Watson and there was little about either quarterback’s performance to suggest that the Texans will give serious thought to veering away from their plan to have the rookie start his NFL career as a backup.