If Taiwan doesnt make that initial man miss, that play gets blown up and DW is not celebrated as a hero nationally. If you go back and watch that play, DW had a huge hole to run up the middle with no one in front of him with the blitz coming from the outside. That wouldve been the correct play.
Um...There is no way Watson could have escaped up the middle. Those outside rushers were on him too fast. Plus, he was looking to the right as the rusher met at the QB.
??? You could also make the case that you’re allowed to be more conservative in that situation. There was no problem with the Texans going for it... but they should have opened up the playbook, especially on 4th down where the clock was going to stop (or the Texans get a first down and win).
That's bit much. It was extremely fortunate Matt Milano was there to hit Watson equally in the opposite direction after Neal tagged him to keep him upright... because Watson did not read that blitz and did not get the ball out in time. Watson's athleticism allowing him to keep plays alive that should be either dead or total disasters is what makes him so much fun to watch, but there's no reason to recolor that play as some kind of planned masterpiece of heroics.
This is the best breakdown of how the great escape came to be. In order for it to happen, the line had to screw up the blocking of the zero blitz. Props to Kevin Johnson for getting that tackle to save the TD and not getting concussed in the process. Kevin Walter parts the red sea for Jones.
Jones fell down right when Watson was getting ready to throw to him before the hits, then he brought the ball down and that's when the magic happened. While Watson was stalling by doing his magic trick it gave Jones enough time to get back up and ready for the catch & run. Joking about the stalling tactics. You can see on this angle where Jones falls I think (or maybe I imagined it because I can't find it now) even post game Jones said something about Watson re positioned him pre snap. Play was going to Hop, Watson read the coverage, re positioned Jones...
That all happened so insanely fast its hard to be sure that Watson made the conscious decision to tuck it because Jones slipped or because he finally felt Neal bearing down on him. I don't see how Watson completes that pass even if Jones doesn't slip. Neal was simply too close and either would have disrupted the pass or caused a fumble. So either way it was the right choice by Deshaun to bail on it. If that route was a half yard shorter it would have been a perfect quick out to exploit Neal's blitz. Either way this is part of why you draft a guy like Watson. I have faith that over time we are going to see less houdini moments and more Manning/Brady moments.
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you all that I watched this game in a popular restaurant. Warren Moon was there and he was very pleased at what Watson was doing. He still enjoyed himself even after they insisted on showing that Bill's vs Oilers debacle. The atmosphere was electric. I put it up there with McGradys 13 in 33 game.
After watching 3 times one starts getting picky, like wanting Jones to run off the field in a walk off TD. Come on Dhop, gotta block better.
