Deshaun Watson Gave Another Awesome Breakdown of His Team’s Gameplan
More of this, please
Troy Taormina/USA Today Sports
Deshaun Watson just turned 24 but I already know what he should do when he retires from football. He’d be a perfect TV analyst.
Last week, Watson gave a reporter a lesson in the Panthers’ defense in an exchange that went totally viral. The reporter asked about taking downfield shots and Watson explained in one minute why the Cover 4 scheme Carolina was employing makes that difficult.
After yesterday’s win over the Falcons, Watson did it again. He was asked by a different reporter why the Houston offense was able to carve up the Atlanta defense to the tune of 53 points. Watson’s answer broke down specific coverages and he was able to exploit them, as well as some things that the Falcons did to effectively stifle the Texans.
It’s under 90 seconds but it’s an illuminating look at what goes into winning a football game. You get a sense of the real-time adjustments that a quarterback has to make in order to have the kind of day Watson had (28-for-33 passing, 426 yard, five touchdowns).
Watson also does a good job explaining some of the jargon—like “0 Rats”—so that someone who hasn’t been playing football their whole life can actually make sense of what he’s saying.
I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t do this after every game.
Patrick Mahomes isn’t fair
We’ve come to expect ridiculous things from Patrick Mahomes and he was in rare form last night against the Colts.
First he found Travis Kelce with this throw across his body, off his back foot, back into the middle of the field.
As incredible as that was, this touchdown pass was even better. He scrambled all around the backfield before throwing a bullet on an all-out sprint.
Unfortunately, the second half didn’t go as well as the first for Mahomes. He twisted his ankle and ended up finishing the game completing 56.4% of his passes in a Chiefs loss.
The Redskins are officially in freefall
Here’s what the scene looked like outside FedEx Field in Washington before the Skins-Patriots game.
And here’s what it looked like in the bowels of the stadium after the home team got whooped, 33–7, to drop to 0–5.
And here’s what happened before dawn.
The best of SI
The Raiders’ gameplan against the Bears revolved entirely around stopping Khalil Mack—and it worked. ... Christian McCaffrey went off against the Jaguars and earned a spot in the MVP conversation. ... Daryl Morey set off a geopolitical firestorm with a tweet about Hong Kong.
Around the sports world
Steelers QB Mason Rudolph was concussed on one of the scariest hits you’ll ever see. ... Disgruntled Jags star Jalen Ramsey was in Houston hanging out with Deshaun Watson yesterday. ... The Panthers called the same running play over and over again against the Jaguars because they knew Jacksonville couldn’t stop it.
Easily the worst roughing call of the season
Playoff baseball!
He really got a flag for throwing a flag
I don’t think that’s illegal motion
Is that bad?
Few things in sports are as pretty as a successful onside kick
Decades of Kansas football summed up neatly
The call is almost as good as the goal
To win the game in triple OT, no less
That catch let the special teams unit off the hook
Not sports
Ginger Baker, the drummer for the Eric Clapton-fronted band Cream, died over the weekend. ... Tourists can now visit the control room at Chernobyl. ... A deer ran right though the window of a Long Island salon.
They’re like tide pods full of booze
Coaxing an octopus out of a plastic cup
A good song
Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to seeprevious editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.
