Kansas City Chiefs: Five things to watch vs Texans in Divisional Round
GETTING PRESSURE ON WATSON
Deshaun Watson is easily one of my favorite quarterbacks to watch in the NFL. He’s elusive, as we saw last weekend against Buffalo, and a play is never dead as long as he’s still standing.
That’s kind of the issue for Houston though, the protection for Watson since he was drafted in 2017 has been really, really bad. In 2018 – his first full year as a starter – Watson was sacked an eye popping 62 times. This year, it was down to 44 sacks on the year, which is a steady improvement, but still shows how weak that Houston offensive line is.
Oddly enough, the last time Watson went an entire game without being sacked was against the Kansas City Chiefs in week six of the regular season. Since then, he’s been sacked at least once a game and has been sacked more than once in a game seven times since that match-up.
The Chiefs defense wasn’t a force to be reckoned with in week six, but it certainly is now. Chris Jones was absent in that game and Frank Clark was battling a neck issue amongst other things. Both fellas appear to be healthier now and they should be able to get pressure on Watson and make his life a living hell on Sunday.
The Bills sacked Watson seven times last week and while their defense is better than Kansas City’s, expect Clark, Jones, and potentially Tanoh Kpassagnon and Tyrann Mathieu to get in on the action as well.
PROTECTING PAT FROM PRESSURE
After discussing getting pressure on Watson, it’s only fair to talk about protecting Patrick Mahomes from pressure. The Texans sacked Mahomes one time in the regular season meeting and were able to sack Bills quarterback Josh Allen three times last week.
J.J. Watt wasn’t present on every play, but he made an impact in the game, registering a big third down sack on Allen and also getting two hits on him and notching a tackle as well. Having Eric Fisher in this game should prove to be critical as we’ve seen him own Watt before and he makes a big difference when he’s on the left side of the line.
If the Chiefs can protect Mahomes, the offense should be able to roll.