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General manager, Rick Smith sat in his box at Gillette Stadium during the Houston Texans' divisional round playoff game and realized the grim reality that was his team. He has built a tremendous defense, one of the best in the NFL for sure. But without a quarterback, this defense is going to go through years and years together without winning a championship. Thus, Smith mortgaged the future for the here and now. He ultimately traded Brock Osweiler, a pair of first round picks and a second round pick to get Deshaun Watson in the NFL Draft. If Watson ultimately turns into a Pro Bowler, the price will be justified that was paid. If he turns into a bust, the entire Texans organization is sure to stumble for years to come. That makes this one of the most interesting teams to watch in the NFL in 2017.
Houston Texans Super Bowl Odds
Super Bowl Odds: +3000
AFC Championship Odds: +1200
AFC South Odds: +225
Odds Texans Make Playoffs: +115
Texans Regular Season Win Total: 8.5
The Texans have won the AFC South in four of the last six seasons, but most recognize the fact that they probably have taken at least a small step backwards in the offseason. Most agree that at some point, Watson will take over as the starting quarterback for this team, but for the time being, it's Tom Savage's game. He's thrown the exact same number of career touchdown passes as Watson, though, and that's why there's a little less optimism in Houston in 2017 than there has been recently.
At 30 to 1, Houston doesn't quite feel believable as a Super Bowl contender, but if Watson does turn out to be the next Ben Roethlisberger or Russell Wilson, he could boost this team to the top contender in the AFC for New England's throne. Still, the Texans only have a regular season win total of 8.5, and they are slight underdogs to get into the postseason.
2017 Houston Texans Schedule
Week 1: Texans vs. Jaguars – Sunday, September 10, 1 p.m. ET
Week 2: Texans at Bengals – Thursday, September 14, 8:25 p.m. ET
Week 3: Texans at Patriots – Sunday, September 24, 1 p.m. ET
Week 4: Texans vs. Titans – Sunday, October 1, 1 p.m. ET
Week 5: Texans vs. Chiefs – Sunday, October 8, 8:30 p.m. ET
Week 6: Texans vs. Browns – Sunday, October 15, 1 p.m. ET
Week 7: Bye
Week 8: Texans at Seahawks – Sunday, October 29, 4:05 p.m. ET
Week 9: Texans vs. Colts – Sunday, November 5, 1 p.m. ET
Week 10: Texans at Rams – Sunday, November 12, 4:05 p.m. ET
Week 11: Texans vs. Cardinals – Sunday, November 19, 1 p.m. ET
Week 12: Texans at Ravens – Monday, November 27, 8:30 p.m. ET
Week 13: Texans at Titans – Sunday, December 3, 1 p.m. ET
Week 14: Texans vs. 49ers – Sunday, December 10, 1 p.m. ET
Week 15: Texans at Jaguars – Sunday, December 17, 1 p.m. ET
Week 16: Texans vs. Steelers – Monday, December 25, 4:30 p.m. ET
Week 17: Texans at Colts – Sunday, December 31, 1 p.m. ET
The Houston Texans Will Be a Success If…
... Watson doesn't have to play this season.
It seems contradictory to what you might believe, but the longer the Texans can hold Watson out of serious game action, the better. That means that Savage would be doing an adequate job of being the team's starting quarterback.
Of course, at some point, Texans fans will want to see the man who the organization traded a trove of picks to get, but if Watson has to play as early as say, Week 3 at New England, that's probably not a good sign going forward. Bill O'Brien will surely let Watson step in and try to be the savior of this offense at some point when it inevitably starts to sputter, but the longer that gets put off, the better sign that is for the Texans in 2017.
The Houston Texans Will Be a Failure If…
… J.J. Watt doesn't return to his beast form.
One of the easily forgotten issues from last season in Houston is the fact that Watt effectively didn't play the entire season. He's had almost 20 full months off without much in the way of live game action, and that should see him back at full strength on a defense that was already devastating without him.
Watt, though, is going to lose the battle with Father Time as well. He's been dinged up a lot over the course of the last couple seasons, and that's due to the fact that he's incredibly hard on his own body and demands only the best from himself. If he's wrecking opposing offenses all by himself, and that's going to make Houston a horrible team to match up against. But if Watt is merely mortal at this point in his career, one has to wonder if the Texans defense will actually take a step backwards without him. This isn't a team that can afford to allow 20 points all that often if it wants to win.
Houston Texans 2017 Predictions
It's not that Houston is expected to really take a big step backwards this season; it's more the rest of the AFC South starting to catch up just a bit. Still, we think the Texans have one more year at the top coming. Even if Watson is thrust into action right away, he isn't going to be asked to do a heck of a lot. Besides, he can't be much worse than the combination of Osweiler, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Fitzpatrick and the rest of the boards with angry faces who have been under center in the Lone Star State of late.
Let's not forget that Lamar Miller wasn't healthy for chunks of last season, and DeAndre Hopkins was lost in this offense. By getting these two men involved more in the offense and having Watt back on defense, that should offset any losses this team had in the offseason via free agency. We suspect the Texans will once again win nine or 10 games, win the AFC South and ultimately get knocked out of the playoffs relatively early.
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