Deshaun Watson was sacked 7 times vs. the Bills. It’s a pattern the Chiefs can exploit

Last season, the Texans allowed Deshaun Watson to be sacked a league-high 62 times. Though they lowered that number this year with the addition of left tackle Laremy Tunsil, Watson was still sacked 44 times during the regular season.

Watson was sacked six times in three different games, including in Week 1. That’s when we first broke down who was most at fault for them. The findings from that early game showed the blame should be spread around — it didn’t rest solely on what was considered a poor offensive line.

Against the Bills in the opening round of the playoffs, Watson was sacked seven times, the most in a game yet. The narrow overtime victory included a big sack on the final drive that was only erased by serious Watson heroics in which he escaped from a near-certain eighth sack.

The Texans will play the Chiefs and their 11th-ranked pass rush in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, and they can’t have a repeat performance this week.

So, why are the Texans still allowing Watson to be brought down so much? Are the same people at fault this time around?

Below, we’ll break down each sack against the Bills and assign some blame.

For reference, the starting Houston offensive line for this game was, from left to right: No. 78 Laremy Tunsil, No. 74 Max Scharping, No. 66 Nick Martin, No. 73 Zach Fulton, and No. 77 Chris Clark, who was replaced by swing tackle and occasional extra blocker No. 63 Roderick Johnson.

Time: 10:02 in the first quarter
Situation: second-and-6, Buffalo 47-yard line

It didn’t take long for Watson to get sacked in this game. The Texans ran a play-action fake to their left side, but it went nowhere because Trent Murphy came across unblocked on the right side.

This play was doomed from the start. Though Murphy didn’t get the actual sack, he gave Jerry Hughes time to do so.

What I don’t get is how the Texans didn’t account for Murphy, who was too far to the right to be a factor in the running play that they’re faking. The issue with assigning blame for a play like this is you have to wonder what Watson’s options were before the snap. He should have been able to identify that Murphy was a problem, but then again, the coaches should have seen it, too.

Who was at fault: Playcall

Time: 1:26 in the first quarter
Situation: third-and-3, Buffalo 40-yard line

Later in the first quarter and inside Buffalo territory, the Texans saw a promising drive end due to a third-down sack. The Bills only rushed four, but once again, Watson was under pressure almost immediately.

There’s something wrong with a running back blocking a pass rusher by himself while four offensive linemen block two guys, yet that’s what happened. Duke Johnson did his best to block Matt Milano, but he got the pressure on Watson, who escaped and was sacked by Clark’s man (Murphy).

Clark did his job on the play, and Watson had no options available downfield. So why was Johnson stranded against a pass rusher who was obviously coming? To me that’s a failure on the interior line — Fulton in particular.

Who was at fault: Fulton

Time: 10:09 in the second quarter
Situation: second-and-6, Houston 29-yard line

While this next play didn’t lose any yardage, it was still pretty dang ugly. It was a good decision by Watson to not throw the pass, but after the fake it all went bad.

Watson stepped into this not-throw so hard that when he reset his feet, he turned all the way around — right into Murphy. That said, the right tackle didn’t do a terrible job on this play. If Watson were stepping around the pocket like any other play, it would have been a successful block.

There’s a tendency to blame Watson when he dances around in the backfield — and you should sometimes. This, however, feels like a coverage sack.

Who was at fault: N/A (coverage sack)

Time: 8:23 in the second quarter
Situation: first-and-15, Houston 34-yard line

On this play, just about everything went wrong from the onset, and there’s plenty of blame to be thrown around.

Tight end Darren Fells was the one who got beat, but I really don’t like anything about this play. Bill O’Brien brought in Roderick Johnson, the swing tackle, as an extra blocker on the left side and stacked Fells next to him. However, Johnson looked like he was in slow motion here. The play action didn’t work and Watson’s dropback was too deep for any of the good blocking to matter.

There’s no reason the Texans should have looked so thoroughly overwhelmed on the play. Blame goes to a committee on this one.

Who was at fault: Playcall, Fells, and Johnson

Time: 14:23 in the third quarter
Situation: third-and-9, Houston 26-yard line

This is an excellent example of Watson taking more sacks than he should, despite initial pressure coming his way.

At first, it looks like Watson got swarmed here. On closer inspection, it shows that when he stepped up following Fulton getting Jordan Phillips turned around, there was enough time to set his feet and look downfield.

Instead, he rolled out to his left and looked like he was trying to run for it. Edmunds closed fast and sacked him for a big loss. Watson absolutely could have avoided this sack.

Who was at fault: Watson

Time: 11:43 in the fourth quarter
Situation: third-and-3, Buffalo 21-yard line

Once again I am puzzled by how the Texans continued to let unblocked defensive ends through the line. It’s understandable if there’s a stunt or a delayed blitz from a linebacker, but a defensive end who is clearly not going anywhere else? Yeesh.

Though it wasn’t Murphy who wound up getting the sack, he was the guy who forced this play to go off the rails. Tunsil had his issues with Hughes, but if Murphy had been blocked initially, then Watson could have stepped up and through the rush from Hughes.

Clark and Fulton were both engaged with one guy when Murphy came around unblocked. Clark turned around slowly and saw Watson about to get crushed but could do nothing about it. On plays like these, you have to blame the outside lineman for being clueless and the coach for not recognizing it.

Who was at fault: Playcall and Clark

Time: 7:43 in overtime
Situation: second-and-9, Houston 28-yard line

Finally, we’ve come to the first sack where I felt like the Bills actually did something worthy of tripping up a good coach, line, or quarterback. Until now, these were all very basic pass rushes the Texans failed to handle for one reason or another. This one was a defensive back blitz that Watson reacted to poorly.

Blaming the quarterback when somebody comes in unblocked is tough, but if the coach is calling a passing play with an empty backfield and zero extra blockers, then the quarterback has to be able to get the ball out quickly. As soon as Watson finished his dropback, that pass should have been coming out. He had one receiver on either side of him who had a shot at catching a pass, or he could have chosen to throw it out of bounds. Instead, he acted very un-Watson-like in his escape and took the sack.

I don’t like calling this play in overtime and on second down. After allowing six sacks, going into an empty backfield for anything other than a timing route in this situation is just ... bad. Why O’Brien called this play will forever mystify me. Fortunately for Houston, Watson converted a pass on third-and-18 to extend the drive. The Texans later kicked the game-winning field goal.

Who was at fault: Playcall

Despite all of this, the Texans and Watson came from down 16-0 on the scoreboard to beat the Bills. One sack and one near-sack on the game-winning drive in overtime is not ideal, but given that most of these sacks came before they started mounting their comeback, everyone involved deserves credit for making adjustments.

Still, more than anything, the Texans were let down by their coaching. That’s probably not news to anyone who consistently saw O’Brien and the Texans outcoached this season, including in the Bills game.

Their next game poses another big challenge. If they can’t keep Watson upright, they’ll lose, and it probably won’t be close. Only four teams scored more points than Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs this year, and the Texans won’t be able to keep up if a bunch of drives are being killed by sacks.

The Texans already beat the Chiefs once this season, and Watson wasn’t sacked once in that Week 6 meeting. However, the circumstances will be different this time.

Kansas City was without Chris Jones, while Frank Clark was playing through a pinched nerve. Jones ended the season with a team-high nine sacks, followed by Clark with eight. Plus, the Chiefs now have veteran Terrell Suggs, and their pass rush produced 13 of its 45 sacks in their final month of the season.

Either way, it’s clear there’s far more at play here for the Texans than a shoddy offensive line or a quarterback who holds onto the football for too long. The Chiefs can win pass rush battles and Andy Reid can win the coaching battle. For the Texans, it will be an uphill climb.