Secondary issues: With time to throw, Deshaun Watson carves New England's defense up

The New England Patriots invested a ton of dough and wads of draft capital on this defensive secondary. Sunday afternoon in Houston, DeShaun Watson owned it.

Defending Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore, $11 million worth of McCourty Twins, interception leader JC Jackson and recently re-signed Jonathan Jones (4 years, $24 million) were basted and roasted by Watson in a 27-21 loss that wiped clean any positive mojo this football team gained by knocking off the Ravens a week ago.

David Johnson is hurt, and DeAndre Hopkins is in Arizona. Watson worked with the likes of porcelain Will Fuller, well-traveled Brandin Cooks and Jordan Akins to the tune of 27 for 38, 344 yards and a pair of touchdowns, good for a sparkling 121.9 rating.

Seventeen of the Texans' 21 first downs came via airmail. And that was the Bill Belichick plan in this one. One year ago, the Patriots cranked up the heat on Watson. The Clemson product threw three TDs in a 28-22 Houston win, with a rating of 140.9.

“Those are the choices you have to make. They have a lot of good receivers. They have a very good quarterback,” said Belichick, of the decision to rush no more than four and play coverage repeatedly.

“They had done pretty well against pressure. It wasn’t very good for us last year … They did a pretty good job with all of it to tell you the truth.”

Sunday afternoon, Belichick put it on his DBs. Cover for what at times seemed like infinity, or else. The result was a brutal first half, in which Watson clicked for 18 of 23 for 241 yards. The 21-10 halftime lead turned out to be insurmountable with the Patriots' offense sputtering at times like a 1974 Datsun.

If the Patriots adjusted after the break, it was hard to discern. New England did still allow two scoring drives, with a pair of Texans field goals coming after 8 and 11-play drives.

For all the investment, the Patriots secondary let this football team down. And it wasn’t just about Watson warming up for the dinner table Thursday by carving these guys up. Devin McCourty being steamrolled by a scrambling Watson at the 2 for a humbling touchdown was not a good look. Neither were the Jonathan Jones, Kyle Dugger and Adrian Phillips. Gilmore returned, but he was by no means immune, and it looked like the Akins was an equal-opportunity menace in his coming-out party.

“We talked about it all week, how explosive that offense was,” said captain Devin McCourty. “At times, we did a good job. They just made more plays than us at key times. They executed a little bit better than us.

“Not a perfect game, not an all-out terrible game.”

If the Patriots are to make any real noise in December, and possibly beyond, the secondary has to be better than not all-out terrible. They have to be weapons. On Sunday, there were no turnovers forced, no sacks, no pressure. New England was defensively defensive, and that was a switch in tactics and production.

“Watson is dynamic. It’s not like he’s a statue back there and he was able to buy some time,” said McCourty. “It’s tough for everyone out there. He did a good job, even when it felt like we had him, of escaping.

“He put a lot of pressure on us, in our pass rush and our coverage with his ability to run. Just being able to buy that extra time. We all know it’s tough in coverage when a guy can buy, call it an extra two or three seconds, especially with the kind of receivers they have, like they have some fast and highly skilled receivers. He did a good job, and he always does a good job of just keeping his eyes down the field. That made it tough, and even when he did keep it, it’s trying to get everybody to rally to him.”

New England allowed Watson to get into a rhythm early, and clearly he was loose, comfortable and on his game.

“He made a couple throws, a lot of plays that we could have controlled,” said Gilmore of the slow defensive start. “I don’t think he was beating us straight up. They ran a couple pick plays. After we adjusted, I felt like we were in a better groove. He’s a great quarterback. He makes some tough throws. They have a lot of good speed on the outside.”

Give all three Patriots defensive backs who spoke after the game credit. The DBs could not have been happy with the gameplan, allowing Watson time to set, re-set, select and deliver, on his feet, stepping into throws. Nobody pointed fingers.

“He extended some plays, but we have to stick with our guys, make it hard on him,” said Gilmore. “That’s why he’s a good quarterback. It’s a team game. Whatever happens out there, we’re all in it together. We all have to do a better job.”

Pointing fingers will be left to Belichick in films on Monday, a session that will show more than a few awful tackling angles and some shoddy work with the Texans piling up yards after contact.

“Tackling comes down to getting a guy down, it’s always execution. We don’t play guys who are easy to tackle in this league,” said McCourty. “Obviously, today wasn’t a great day tackling, really even letting them get extra yards if it was a tackle.”

Look, Houston clearly came to play. This was vintage Watson.

As McCourty noted, “Some of it was they made plays. The first touchdown to (Randall) Cobb, I’m there in coverage, it’s a good throw. … Overall, just better execution in the first half would have helped us out.”