Deshaun Watson needs to relax. Tim Warner/Getty Images
What happened to that fun brand of football we were treated to last year? Where is that up and down the field, no fear, high flying offense that put up 34 points a game? Where did it go?
I know we’re only two games in but if those two games are any indication it looks like Deshaun has been O’Brienized and that’s not a good thing. Is this the same offense that Brian Hoyer ran? That Brock Osweiler ran? That Tom Savage ran? I certainly hope not.
I know what I say doesn’t matter but I don’t want Deshaun running BOB’s offense. I want BOB to run Deshaun’s offense. He’s different than Hoyer and Brock and Savage. That’s why they drafted him. That’s why we had such high hopes for this season.
Where are the RPO’s they put in last year? Where are the moving pockets? The bootlegs? Every shotgun pass is a five or seven step drop, every time he’s under center it’s play action.
On their second drive of the game against the Titans penalties and a botched snap had them in a third and 27. That’s a next to impossible situation. Deshaun took the snap, had time and had D-Hop wide open about 15 to 18 yards down the field. It looked like he was looking right at him but instead of pulling the trigger he pulled it down and ran. It wasn’t enough as Fairbairn came up short on the field goal.
That wasn’t the only time though. These past two weeks he’s been tentative, like he’s got information overload. I’m not saying he can’t think or read defenses. He certainly can. You don’t win a national championship or throw 19 TD’s with 8 picks your rookie year if you can’t think.
It just doesn’t look like he’s having any fun. It looks like he’s thinking and not playing, like the weight of the world is on his shoulders and his social media posts are confirming it.
Last week he went after Pat D. Stat who was tweeting about his footwork. He told Pat to “keep that same energy.” He’s since deleted it but why is he worried about what a writer thinks about his footwork?
In his postgame press conference he told anyone who’s hitting the panic button to not hop back on the train later in the season. He even brought up his tough homeless childhood. Where the heck did that come from? Why would he be thinking about that terrible time in his life in a postgame press conference?
People are tweeting him bible verses about God’s plan and he’s retweeting with Amens. Deshaun’s faith in God is admirable but it seems a little early to be thinking that this is some test from God. After all it’s just an 0-2 start; nothing to hit the panic button over.
Deshaun, have some fun out there. Take off on a 60 yard run. Bootleg and hit Ryan Griffin on a 30 yard crossing route. Chuck one up for Will Fuller. Give it to D-Hop on a reverse and you go out on a wheel route. That’d be sweet.
Get back to playing the game you love with some joy. Stop worrying about your critics or fans who are mad about a slow start. And for goodness' sake try not to think about the worst time of your life right after a game.
This is the best time of your life. You’re the best quarterback in Houston Texans franchise history.
Act like it.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.