Houston Texans Media Conference

Sunday, September 20, 2020

Houston, Texas, USA

Deshaun Watson

Press Conference


Ravens - 33, Texans - 16

Q. You guys moved the ball and got in position but didn't score as many touchdowns. You came away with field goals. Your thoughts on finishing off some of these drives, and also if you could take us through the fourth down try that did not work?

DESHAUN WATSON: Yeah, start with the fourth down. They did a good job of controlling the edge, creating pressure with the play call, and that was the best situation to do, try to at least get in Fells' way to have a chance, at least, some sort of percentage to get it. They did a good job of coming off the edge and getting there quickly.

The red zones, we got to capitalize on those. I missed a touchdown with Cobbie on an end route. I wasn't set. I had to step up in the pocket. I fell off and didn't put enough on it to get it up and get it into his arms, at least for a first down.

And then we just didn't capitalize, and with a great team like Baltimore they did a heck of a job of containing us from getting in the end zone on those red zone drives. You know, you always want to get points, but with a great team like that you got to score points. You got to get touchdowns. And that's the thing that we didn't do today. It's a good learning lesson for us to be able to look at the film, correct those mistakes. And even if it wasn't mistakes, they did a good job of covering. What can we do different to be able to get the ball in the end zone. So, yeah, we just got to continue to grow and keep pushing forward.

Q. How would you define the mood, the temperature in the locker room, the mood of the team now that you're 0-2 and going to Pittsburgh?

DESHAUN WATSON: It's never good to be 0-2. No one likes to lose or at least I don't like to lose. So the energy of course is, coming off the field is a little low, but at the end of the day you got to keep, you can't get discouraged. It's a long year. Yeah, this organization's been, since I've been here, we went and started 0-4, I think in 2018, but it's a new year. So we don't want to start 0-2, but, hey, that's where we are. We got a 24-hour rule. Learn from these mistakes, guys get healthy, rest your body, and let's get ready for Pittsburgh. We just got to keep pushing forward and that's the biggest thing we can do. And that's what I'm going to do, find ways to continue to get better and keep trusting all my guys that's in that locker room. If we continue to do that, stay as one and don't let it break us up and don't let it fall into a snowball, then things will be fine. But guys just got to keep their confidence, keep -- we are here for a reason. This is a professional football team versus two -- we played against the Kansas City Chiefs last week on the road and then the Baltimore Ravens. So two great teams where little mistakes, we can't do that and we got to keep on the same page.

Q. How difficult is it to be playing from behind against these really good teams?

DESHAUN WATSON: It's not always good. We just got to start faster and continue to start faster. Just play complementary football. We gave them a defensive touchdown early on that kind of separated the game where we kind of had the momentum and we -- who knows what we could have done that drive that, I think it may have been, I think it was 13-7 at the time, and they scored it was 20-7. And then the next drive of course, the interception Garry Peters made. But we stopped them and went down and I think we kicked a field goal at two minute, but, yeah, it's tough.

Q. It looked like Marcus Peters just made a really good play on that ball there that he intercepted. What did you see on that play and could you take us through that a little bit?

DESHAUN WATSON: No, he did. I mean, he leaped out, he laid out for it. We were actually, I was asking him about it, if he was, if he knew that was kind of coming or if he just read my eyes. He just kind of said he fell off. He kind of gave the, shutdown the play, and I just got to see in front of the crossers, the crossing routes, and I thought it was far enough away from where I could get it to Cooks and let him run, but he leaped out and made a hell of a play and he did a good job for his defense.

But, yeah, I got to see in front of the crosser and next time make sure that I can get the ball into the receiver's hands instead of the defense.

Q. And even though y'all played two really great teams so far, do you get the sense a little bit that y'all are beating yourselves?

DESHAUN WATSON: Of course. I mean, we get down early in the game and we got to fight our way back. You never want to do that versus any team. And then just little mistakes that, we just are not executing. I wouldn't even call them mistakes, just opportunities that we're not capitalizing on. A lot of times in the red zone, even myself, like I said, I missed Cooks on that one, on the third down. And then just little things that we were there, but we're just not making the plays. So, yeah, we just are not capitalizing on those perfect opportunities for us to take that next step.

Q. Like you said, not exactly where you guys want to be in some of those plays, but how do you feel about the progress you made with Brandon and with Randall from week one to this week?

DESHAUN WATSON: It's coming along well. We're getting on the same page in live action, doing whatever I'm asking them to do, whatever the offensive coordinator is asking them to do, playing a lot of different roles, and just leading. So we'll continue to grow each and every week and that's all we can do.

Q. What's going to be the key for you guys turning this around, because obviously while the slate may not be as difficult as the first two games, it's still a challenging slate ahead. What do you guys have to do to kind of get this going right?

DESHAUN WATSON: Man, just, really, positivity. Just love and execution. We just got to stay positive through all the negative that's going to come our way, through all the just bad, you know, things that is coming our way. We got to continue to pitch forward. We can't look at the record. We got to go, Hey, this is a new week, this a new opportunity. We're going on the road to a great Pittsburgh team. I can't remember if they won or not today. But it's a great team, on the road in a great environment, and we got to go out there. It's another challenge and it's another challenge for us to be able to try to change the train and get it on the winning track. And that's all we need. We just need one victory to get back on that train track and get guys going. So clear everything out. What happened happened in the first two weeks and we got to focus on Pittsburgh.

Q. Wanted to ask you about a couple of your wide receivers. Will was getting stretched out on the sideline, wasn't available for a large portion of the game. What's it like when you don't have Will out there? And if you could say, what would you say to Keke after, obviously, a costly fumble like that that they run in for a touchdown?

DESHAUN WATSON: Keke, just keep your head up, keep working. That's something that we didn't want but, hey, it happened and we got to keep pushing forward. We got to go on to the next play. That's the encouragement that you got to give a guy like him. Keep bringing him along. That's all we can do.

And then, of course, Will just got to continue to do the right treatment and get on the field and he's going to do that. And every time he's on the field, he's a big factor. He's a big part of this offense, so just making sure that he is staying healthy and just keep pushing forward.

Q. Playing against such a big opponent like the Ravens today, did you miss having the energy and the noise from the crowd?

DESHAUN WATSON: I guess you can say that. That's definitely something that people feed off of in a football game, but we can't let that factor into the game and what we're doing on the field because once we step on the field everything else is kind of blocked out. But, yeah, we miss our fans for sure.

Q. Wanted to ask you about, a lot of you guys took a knee before the game during the anthem. I believe you did, and I couldn't quite see. Your thoughts on just doing that, the statement it made, and also Bill O'Brien kneeling with you guys.

DESHAUN WATSON: Yeah, I mean, guys have their own opinion and I just felt that it was right for me personally and then for my family and the African American community. So that's why I did it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
101755-1-1044 2020-09-21 00:45:00 GMT

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