FRED FAOUR
Watson turns in elite performance as Texans roll over Dolphins 42-23
Oct 25, 2018, 10:43 pm
Deshaun Watson was terrific on Thursday. Bob Levey/Getty Images
Deshaun Watson has had mixed results all season. He has dealt with a subpar offensive line, bad play calling and several injuries.
In Thursday night’s game, we saw what he can be at his best.
Watson was 16 of 20, threw for 239 yards, 5 TDs and for the second straight game did not turn the ball over as the Texans had their best offensive game of the season in an 42-23 win over Miami.
As a result, the Texans sit at 5-3 after the halfway point of the season. They lead the AFC South and are looking very much like a playoff team. Their last two games have been their best of the season.
Watson was a game manager last week and led the Texans over Jacksonville. Thursday night, he was the playmaker we saw last season.
Watson eluded the pass rush and made big plays. He hit long passes. He was efficient and effective. And if this Watson shows up the rest of the season? The Texans have a chance to be very good.
He threw darts against his body. He hit deep passes. He made smart decisions. In short, he looked like an elite quarterback.
The running game certainly helped, as Lamar Miller had his best game as a Texan with 133 rushing yards. The offensive line kept Watson clean - he was not sacked once.
Watson made the most of it. He was accurate, poised. When he plays like that, the Texans can beat anyone. He looked healthy for the first time in weeks, and the results showed.
Yes, the Dolphins are garbage. The Texans were supposed to beat them handily. But Watson was beyond excellent and looked like the player we all fell in love with last season.
Is he a franchise quarterback? Absolutely. Can he be elite? Maybe.
Thursday night, he certainly was.
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It’s May 1, and the Astros are turning heads—but not for the reasons anyone expected. Their resurgence, driven not by stars like Yordan Alvarez or Christian Walker, but by a cast of less-heralded names, is writing a strange and telling early-season story.
Christian Walker, brought in to add middle-of-the-order thump, has yet to resemble the feared hitter he was in Arizona. Forget the narrative of a slow starter—he’s never looked like this in April. Through March and April of 2025, he’s slashing a worrying .196/.277/.355 with a .632 OPS. Compare that to the same stretch in 2024, when he posted a .283 average, .496 slug, and a robust .890 OPS, and it becomes clear: this is something more than rust. Even in 2023, his April numbers (.248/.714 OPS) looked steadier.
What’s more troubling than the overall dip is when it’s happening. Walker is faltering in the biggest moments. With runners in scoring position, he’s hitting just .143 over 33 plate appearances, including 15 strikeouts. The struggles get even more glaring with two outs—.125 average, .188 slugging, and a .451 OPS in 19 such plate appearances. In “late and close” situations, when the pressure’s highest, he’s practically disappeared: 1-for-18 with a .056 average and a .167 OPS.
His patience has waned (only 9 walks so far, compared to 20 by this time last year), and for now, his presence in the lineup feels more like a placeholder than a pillar.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer when you look at José Altuve—long the engine of this franchise—who, in 2024, delivered in the moments Walker is now missing. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Altuve hit .275 with an .888 OPS. In late and close situations, he thrived with a .314 average and .854 OPS. That kind of situational excellence is missing from this 2025 squad—but someone else may yet step into that role.
And yet—the Astros are winning. Not because of Walker, but in spite of him.
Houston’s offense, in general, hasn’t lit up the leaderboard. Their team OPS ranks 23rd (.667), their slugging 25th (.357), and they sit just 22nd in runs scored (117). They’re 26th in doubles, a rare place for a team built on gap-to-gap damage.
But where there’s been light, it hasn’t come from the usual spots. Jeremy Peña, often overshadowed in a lineup full of stars, now boasts the team’s highest OPS at .791 (Isaac Paredes is second in OPS) and is flourishing in his new role as the leadoff hitter. Peña’s balance of speed, contact, aggression, and timely power has given Houston a surprising tone-setter at the top.
Even more surprising: four Astros currently have more home runs than Yordan Alvarez.
And then there’s the pitching—Houston’s anchor. The rotation and bullpen have been elite, ranking 5th in ERA (3.23), 1st in WHIP (1.08), and 4th in batting average against (.212). In a season where offense is lagging and clutch hits are rare, the arms have made all the difference.
For now, it’s the unexpected contributors keeping Houston afloat. Peña’s emergence. A rock-solid pitching staff. Role players stepping up in quiet but crucial ways. They’re not dominating, but they’re grinding—and in a sluggish AL West, that may be enough.
Walker still has time to find his swing. He showed some signs of life against Toronto and Detroit. If he does, the Astros could become dangerous. If he doesn’t, the turnaround we’re witnessing will be credited to a new cast of unlikely faces. And maybe, that’s the story that needed to be written.
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