To build a Super Bowl contender you must have the franchise quarterback. It may be common knowledge, or at least should be, among football minds but sometimes people need a refresher. Once a team has a certain starting quarterback that eases the process of team building greatly. It allows the general manager to completely tailor the offense for his quarterback. In the Houston Texans current situation, management has yet to decide who the long term centerpiece will be. Will it be Tom Savage? Will it be Deshaun Watson? Houston, we, may or may not, have a problem.
The Tom Savage and Deshaun Watson Quarterback Quandary
Team Building
Before getting into who The Houston Texans place at the helm, the fundamental example of how to build an ideal team ought to be established. That example is the team north of Houston, the Dallas Cowboys.
The Cowboys built, by far, the best offensive line in football and then placed a capable player behind it and made him look like a superstar. With Houston, pretty much everything is in place except for the offensive line and a final decision at quarterback. Take this as somewhat of a disclaimer before reading about what Watson and Savage could or should do behind the Texans offensive line, a mediocre unit below the NFL average.
Quarterback Performance – Tom Savage
Breaking down both quarterbacks now, with Savage, his play has a direct correlation to how the line plays that day. When the offensive line played well in the second series against the Carolina Panthers in the first preseason game, what happened?
Savage tore up the defense. He had time, could comfortably stand in the pocket, and delivered accurate passes downfield. But go a little further back, the first series was a complete mess. The line could not hold their blocks and Savage had little time to get the ball out. He looked terrible. That’s the risk with starting him, because most of the time the offensive line isn’t going to be impenetrable.
Quarterback Performance – Deshaun Watson
Moving to Watson, the Clemson product is at his best when on the move. Whether that be, rolling out on a play-action pass, scrambling from a collapsing pocket or running a designed quarterback run play, he needs to move.
He does, however, show some promise when in the pocket. A few times each preseason game he checks with the offensive line to switch the protection because he figured out what the defenders were trying to hide. When standing tall in the pocket with his feet set and his eyes fixed on the receivers he can throw good passes, but most of them have been errant throws. With that said he really has not had a large enough sample size of a good, clean pocket.
Final Decision – Savage or Watson?
The best course of action for head coach Bill O’Brien to take is to start Savage and just let things play out. That’s the only way to come out of this smelling like roses. It works out well because if Savage plays well, then O’Brien looks good. If Savage doesn’t play well, he can put Watson in and that would be giving the Houston fans what they want.
But, if coach O’Brien decides to start Watson week one and he doesn’t perform that puts Savage in an awkward, “you didn’t want me before” scenario. Again, all fans should keep in mind the fact that if more time was put into building the offensive line most of this would be easier.
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