Can We Have This Last 12 Months Over?

The league and owner might deserve this, but the player sure as hell doesn’t:

Awful news: via multiple reports, Houston Texans rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson tore his ACL in practice on Thursday.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweeted that it was a non-contact injury. ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted that tests at the Texans’ facility confirmed the injury.

John McClain, the longtime Texans beat writer for the Houston Chronicle, reports that Watson will undergo season-ending surgery, and Tom Savage will start this week for Houston against the Indianapolis Colts.

Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reported the team will sign Matt McGloin, formerly of the Oakland Raiders, as its backup to Savage.

This is gutting. And now we will get the dark comedy of the Texans trying to claim that 6 foot 5 inch pile of cinder blocks Tom Savage and Matt “At Least It’s Not Christian Hackenberg!” McGloin give them a better chance of winning than Colin Kaepernick.

While we’re here, can we talk about one of the worst coaching decisions of the year, QUARTERBACK GURU Bill O’Brien running straight up the gut into an 8-man box 3rd-and-4, up 4 with about 1:40 left and Seattle having one timeout left, and then punting after that play very predictably failed to get the first down? Normally, I’d say the question of whether the greater chance of getting the first down that comes from giving your QB the option to pass or run for the first down outweighs the risk of stopping the clock and the increased risk of a turnover is too close to call. But in this particular case it’s nuts:

1)While it’s hard to know exactly how good Watson is in a small sample, he has been outstanding and absolutely shredded the Seahawks secondary all day. The Texans’s non-Watson running game, conversely, is generic.

2)The Seattle rush defense hasn’t been great this year, but that’s more about being vulnerable to big plays when they’ve spent too much time on the field. Running against an 8-man front on a play everyone can see coming is a different story.

3)Even when they’re not in a 2-minute drill, the Seahawks — who have (or had at the time) a legendarily bad offensive line and no running game at all, but do have a great QB and some speedy if erratic wideouts — have a boom-or-bust offense that’s almost entirely reliant on long passing plays. If you’re playing a better but more methodical offense like the Patriots or Chiefs, timeouts are gold. (I know Andy Reid would never have any timeouts left in this situation, but you see what I’m driving at.) But with Rodgers hurt, given a minute or more to work with timeouts are worth less to the Seahawks than any other good team. You’d always rather have them, but Seattle isn’t looking to move the ball up the field with 8-yard passes to slot receivers.

4)And, finally, without Watt and Mercilus the Texans pass defense isn’t great to begin with, and was obviously out of gas at that stage of the game, as you could see when it allowed the Man Who Used to be Jimmy Graham score the winning TD essentially uncontested.

This wasn’t a close call. Give Watson a run/pass option on 3rd down and if you don’t make it since you’re up 4 go for it on 4th down.