Deshaun Watson Proves Patrick Mahomes Is No Undisputed Young Quarterback Champ: The Michael Jordan of Football Doesn’t Need to Concede Anything With Brock Osweiler Failing On

The Michael Jordan of football walks down the corridor of NRG Stadium with big glasses and a hood on. Deshaun Watson is living up to the words of his old college coach again, fueling the hype train, making any fantasy football player who benched him kick themselves.

Watson isn’t trying to go incognito with this look. He’s just having fun again — and when DeShaun Watson is having fun, the Houston Texans are suddenly one of the most explosive teams in the NFL, and an absolute blast to watch.

A little less than a year from when he tore the ACL in his right knee in a November 2, 2017 practice and just three days since he rolled back into Houston on a luxury bus ride from Jacksonville, Watson goes off, throwing for five touchdowns in a 42-23 demolition of the Brock Osweiler-misguided Miami Dolphins. The first franchise quarterback the Houston Texans have ever had racks up more touchdowns (five) than he has incompletions (four).

Watson goes 16 for 20, averaging 15 yards per completion in a night that’s unlike anything the Texans have seen this season. In fact, many NFL players go an entire career without seeing their quarterback do anything quite like this. Just ask Tyrann Mathieu, the veteran safety in his first season in Houston after playing for the some of the most successful Arizona Cardinals teams in that franchise’s history.

Mathieu played on three Arizona teams that won at least 10 games, including a 13-3 squad that lost in the NFC Championship Game. But he quickly admits he’s never played with a QB like Deshaun Watson.

“No, I haven’t,” Mathieu tells PaperCity. “I played with Carson Palmer in Arizona, and he could really throw the ball. But what Deshaun can do is something entirely different.

“Deshaun will make some plays on the fly, where at first you’re wondering, ‘What is he thinking?’ Then, you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s what he’s doing.’ He sees the game in a different way. I’ve never played with any quarterback like him.”

Few have. Watson almost turns an NFL game into basketball on grass. When he gets rolling and starts throwing deep to DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller, Houston suddenly becomes one of the most entertaining teams in the NFL.

Watson is something special — and for the first time this season, after all the rehab, all the natural rust and all the pounding he’s taken behind a patchwork offensive line, he looks like the budding superstar of 2017.

There is Watson making a pistol motion with his hand after scrambling for one first down. There is Watson jumping into his offensive linemen’s arms after touchdown throws. There is Watson running out onto the field to congratulate the defense after they make a third down stop.

On this night, Watson is joy uncorked. This is a quarterback who is clearly feeling a little better — and feeling the moment.

“Oh for sure,” Watson says of the fun factor. “And not just being in the NFL, just playing football in general. That’s what we did as young kids, so you’ve just got to kind of treat it the same…

“It’s a privilege to play at this level. It’s a privilege to play on Thursday Night Football. While you’re out there, you work so hard to get to this stage and this point and whenever you have success, why not celebrate? That’s what we did tonight. It was a lot of fun, a lot of smiles.”

A Fuller Loss

For a National Football League that often takes itself more seriously than the Defense Department, Watson is a bolt of much-needed, electrifying perspective.

You only hope it can last.

With Fuller suffering an apparent torn ACL (a crushing season-ending injury) during the now 5-3 Texans’ 28-point second half, Watson will now be tasked with creating even more magic with less. Hopkins who made one of the greatest single catches in the history of football — reaching back underneath his leg with one arm to snag the football as Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard held his other arm — only to see it officially erased by a ridiculous offensive pass interference call in this Thursday night showcase suddenly becomes Watson’s only experienced pass catcher.

The burden’s suddenly larger than ever. At least, Watson looks as healthy as he has all season.

“That’s just the type of player he is,” veteran cornerback Johnathan Joseph says of the Texans’ franchise savior, the man who replaced the $72 million bust of a Brock. “Give him a clean pocket, give him time, and he’s going to make something happen.”

Sometimes, Watson does not even need time to make five touchdowns happen. See some of the scenes from Thursday night.

Watson rolls right, finds nothing there, rolls back all the way to the left side of the field and throws a dart to rookie tight end Jordan Thomas for a touchdown. He hits a wide-open Fuller for a 73-yard touchdown. He finds a wide-open Hopkins for a 49-yard touchdown fling.

The fun Texans are suddenly back. The explosive Texans of Deshaun Watson’s short-lived, highlight reel rookie season are back. These are the Texans that put up 33 points at New England. This is the team that lit up the scoreboard for 38 points in Seattle last October. This is the squad that frantically scored 34 points in a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Only, they’re actually winning — five straight after an 0-3 start, in fact.

NFL’s Version of Showtime

With Astros manager A.J. Hinch and several Los Angeles Clippers on the sidelines (they play the Rockets Friday night), Watson and Co. put on an absolute offensive show. It helps that the Miami Dolphins secondary is about as in touch with modern trends as a CBS sitcom, playing some unrecognizable mess of an outdated zone defense. There are quarantined patients who have people closer to them than the Texans wideouts do on this Thursday night.

“Like I said early in the offseason, I think we have the best offense in the NFL,” Hopkins says after the Texans put up three touchdown drives that last less than a minute.

OK, yes with the LA Rams and Kansas City Chiefs still in the NFL, Hopkins’ analysis is more than a little off. The Texans do not have anything close to the league’s best offense.

But on this night, after that catch, the Texans’ good hands man can be excused for being a little overexcited.

Even running back Lamar Miller looks more explosive than he’s ever looked in a Texans’ uniform. Miller’s 58-yard dash in the third quarter is his longest run in three years, his longest run since he wore a Dolphins uniform and still looked like he had sprinter’s speed.

Miller finishes with 133 yards on 18 carries, averaging 7.4 yards per touch against his former team. Afterwards, wearing a Helmut Lang T-shirt and a sweet pair of plaid pants, Miller talks about the need to take the offensive line out to dinner.

“Anywhere they want to go,” Miller says.

Of course, Watson already has been taking the Texans’ O-line out to dinner. That’s what the franchise quarterback does when he’s not texting them sweet encouragement as he plays on through broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

“I keep a smile on my face, keep the energy positive, and they feed off my energy,” Watson says.

An entire franchise does. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes may be the new talk of the league, already having set the record for most Sports Illustrated features done on any one quarterback in a four week period. But in this Thursday Night Football showcase, with Troy Aikman gushing in the booth and Osweiler looking across the field dazed, Deshaun Watson reminds everyone that his show is pretty good too.

The Michael Jordan of football is rolling again — and it’s time to jump onboard the NFL’s fun train. For however long it can last.