Deshaun Watson proves Texans’ NFL divisional playoff chances against Chiefs depend on him

Vinnie Iyer

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Deshaun Watson proves Texans’ NFL divisional playoff chances against Chiefs depend on him image

Almost everything about the Texans' 22-19 overtime win over the Bills on Saturday night in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs painted an ugly picture — for both teams on both sides of the ball. That made Deshaun Watson's dazzling effort an absolute masterpiece.

Houston's quarterback was by far the best player on the field, and he was fully rewarded with his team advancing to the divisional round to play at Kansas City next Sunday.

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Sure, there were other key players who helped the Texans complete a comeback from a 16-0 third-quarter deficit. It wouldn't have been possible without J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus making big plays in the pass rush to cool off Watson's counterpart, Josh Allen.

But after the struggles of a scoreless first half, Watson's final numbers (20-of-25 passing, 247 yards, TD, 9.9 yards per attempt, 121.2 rating, 14 rushes, 55 yards, TD) will go down as a legendary playoff performance, regardless of round. He somehow overcame 7 sacks and constant pressure from a swarming Bills front seven, down to the great escape that led to the game-winning field goal by Ka'imi Fairbairn.

Watson avoided an eighth sack despite being cornered by several Bills behind the line of scrimmage, and five long seconds later, he dumped a pass off to running back Taiwan Jones that turned into a 34-yard gain to the 10-yard line. Only four plays prior, just getting up from his seventh sack, Watson had converted a third-and-18 from the Texans' 19 with a short pass to running back Duke Johnson Jr.

The Texans had no business winning the game. Their pass protection was bad. Their run blocking was bad. Their pass defense, despite sacking Allen three times, allowed the Bills to spread the ball around through tough situations throughout the game. They couldn't stop Allen or rookie running back Devin Singletary from getting chunk plays on the ground.

Before the second-half rally, Bill O'Brien was coaching poorly in every aspect. The Texans came out of the gate slowly, shell-shocked by a creative and aggressive Bills offense and having no clue how to solve a fundamentally sound defense.

MORE: Takeaways from Texans' win over bills

The Bills handed the Texans opportunities with penalties and other self-inflicted wounds. Houston needed every bit of Watson's off-script running and passing, including two key two-point conversions to take advantage of those chances.

O'Brien also made a bad decision late in the fourth quarter by running Watson up the middle on a fourth-and-1 at the Bills' 30 instead of taking a field goal to extend the lead to a likely unsurmountable 22-16 lead late in regulation. That forced the Texans to try to salvage a victory they should have preserved before OT.

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Lamar Jackson will win NFL MVP for the 2019 season, and Russell Wilson will likely be the runner-up. But both those quarterbacks clearly have more help from their respective playoff teams.

Watson is on an island with little reliability beyond go-to wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins offensively, plus only a little more support defensively with Watt back. At this point, Watson is doing more to boost O'Brien's offense than the other way around. Watson also is the Texans' sole workaround for O'Brien's lack of good situational coaching.

VIDEO: Watson's best plays against Bills

Watson and the Texans were able to beat the Chiefs in the regular season, and yes, Watson did everything he needed to do, passing and rushing, for Houston to earn that victory.

We get it: Football is a total team game, and all the Texans contributed in some way to outlasting the Bills on Saturday. But Watson both buried and masked the messes by taking over the game with his special individual playmaking and championship pedigree.

For the Texans to take two more steps and get to Super Bowl 54, it's elementary that Watson must keep doing it.

Vinnie Iyer

Vinnie Iyer Photo

Vinnie Iyer, has been with TSN since 1999, not long after graduating from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He has produced NFL content for more than 20 years, turning his attention to full-time writing in 2007. A native of St. Louis, Mo. but now a long-time resident of Charlotte, N.C. Vinnie’s top two professional sports teams are Cardinals and Blues, but he also carries purple pride for all things Northwestern Wildcats. He covers every aspect of the NFL for TSN including player evaluations, gambling and fantasy football, where he is a key contributor. Vinnie represents TSN as host of the “Locked On Fantasy Football” podcast on the Locked On network. Over his many years at TSN, he’s also written about MLB, NBA, NASCAR, college football, tennis, horse racing, film and television. His can’t-miss program remains “Jeopardy!”, where he was once a three-day champion and he is still avid about crossword puzzles and trivia games. When not watching sports or his favorite game show, Vinnie is probably watching a DC, Marvel or Star Wars-related TV or movie.