Deshaun Watson’s concussion situation could end up changing the stakes for the Houston Texans before they ever kick off against the Cleveland Browns.
Multiple reports say Watson has been placed in the NFL’s concussion protocol after dealing with delayed concussion symptoms following Cleveland’s Week 8 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That development has already pushed backup Shedeur Sanders into the starting role for the Browns’ next game against Tyler Shough and the New Orleans Saints on Sunday afternoon, and it now raises the possibility that Watson could also miss the matchup with Houston 11 days later.
If that happens, the Texans would get a meaningful boost in their push up the AFC standings.
There’s no bigger point here than Watson’s health, of course. The source material makes that clear: his well-being matters far more than any football result, and he needs the best care available so this concussion does not affect his quality of life.
Still, the football ripple effects are obvious. Cleveland comes into Week 9 after a 27-6 loss to the Steelers that dropped the Browns to 5-3. That leaves them two games ahead of Houston for the AFC’s eighth seed.
The path for the Texans gets a lot more interesting if the Browns stumble against the Saints. A Houston win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday would trim that gap to one game before the teams meet at Huntington Bank Field the following week.
That game would settle the tie-breaking edge for the rest of the season. If the Texans win there, they would jump past Cleveland in the standings and could rise from 11th in the conference to eighth, as long as the ninth-seeded Las Vegas Raiders and 10th-seeded Baltimore Ravens also lose along the way.
The on-field matchup would also tilt further Houston’s way if Watson can’t go. Cleveland was already projected to bring in an offense that could still rank as the ninth-worst total unit at 301.9 yards per game and the fourth-worst scoring unit at 17.4 points per game by that point. Without Watson, that outlook gets even bleaker by November 15, and the Texans’ defense would have a chance to take advantage and try to salvage a season that has been one of the most disappointing for that unit.
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