An unexpected quarterback just led his franchise to its first victory.
Houston is hoping it can witness a similar story unfold in the near future.
The franchise's literal first steps toward glory happened on Monday, when quarterback Deshaun Watson ran on a treadmill for the first time since in the middle of the 2017 season. The dynamic, exciting signal-caller posted :
That much was clear when Watson suffered the knee injury in practice, days after he'd engaged in a thrilling shootout with Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks. From there, the Texans fell off a cliff, winning just one of their final nine games. Rarely is the difference made by one player so startlingly evident.
Any recovery is important, but Watson's is paramount because of his style of play, and the assets Houston gave up (a 2018 first-round pick, which is the No. 4 selection) to draft him. In newsroom discussions, our own Jeremy Bergman offered the comparison of Watson to , who was scintillating as a rookie before suffering a similar knee injury. Griffin was never the same from there, in part because of a recovery/rehab process that was covered relentlessly and expedited to keep the momentum generated by the quarterback's play going.
One hopes Watson fares better in his first season after the injury. Those first steps in that high-tech treadmill were important ones.
