Saints 13, Texans 0: Post-Game Recap

Week three of the preseason is usually considered the “preview” of what’s to come for the rest of the year, but for the Texans this game was anything but a legitimate preview.

J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney, Lamar Miller, and Whitney Mercilus played only a handful of snaps each. DeAndre Hopkins, C.J. Fiedorowicz, and Braxton Miller did not play at all (and of course Duane Brown is still absent from his holdout as well). The Saints had the upper hand from beginning to end, but with so few Texans starters seeing extended action in this game, it was almost impossible to tell exactly how good and/or bad this team really is.

What we could determine, however, was that Deshaun Watson is nowhere near ready to start in the NFL. His passes were erratic (52% completions), his decisions were even worse (one interception, and nearly two more in the second quarter alone), and other than quick rhythm throws underneath he really struggled to move the ball down the field. Tom Savage certainly did not light up the scoreboard himself, but at the very least he looked far more comfortable running the offense than Watson.

After tonight, it is clear that Savage is the only quarterback on this roster worth starting…for now. Hopefully Watson’s time on the bench will do him some good in the long run as he continues to develop at his own pace.

Other than that mild disappointment, though, not much else happened. The Saints won 13-0, and now Houston has just one more week of fake football before unleashing the dogs of war on the Jacksonville Jaguars. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m ready to start watching some games that actually count for once.