After getting off to one of the most impressive starts for any rookie quarterback in NFL history, Deshaun Watson's season is now over.
CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora has confirmed that the Texans' rookie quarterback suffered a torn ACL during practice on Thursday. According to ESPN.com, Watson was injured while running a read-option play on a grass practice field. NFL.com first reported the Texans feared the injury was a torn ACL.
The injury to Watson's right ACL comes almost exactly three years after he tore his left ACL during his freshman year at Clemson.
With Watson now out for the year, it means that the Texans will have to turn back to Tom Savage, who will now have to try and save Houston's season. At 3-4, the Texans are currently one game behind both the Titans and the Jaguars in the AFC South. In an eerie coincidence, another AFC South team also officially lost its starting quarterback for the year when the Colts place Andrew Luck on injured reserve.
That happens to be the same Colts team that Houston will play on Sunday in a game where Savage will get on the field for the first time since the Texans' opener. With only one healthy quarterback on their roster, the Texans had to make a quick move to sign a backup for Sunday's game and that's exactly what they did following Watson's injury.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the Texans have signed Matt McGloin. The former Raiders quarterback played under Texans coach Bill O'Brien while both were at Penn State in 2012.
As for Watson, his first appearance of the season came back in Week 1 after O'Brien decided to bench Savage following a rough first half against the Jaguars. The decision to play the rookie quarterback has paid huge dividends for the Texans, who have turned into an offensive scoring machine thanks in large part to the Watson's electric style of play. With Watson under center, the Texans were the highest-scoring team in the NFL between Weeks 3 and 8 with 39 points per game.
The injury comes four days after Watson played arguably his best game of the year. In a 41-38 loss to the Seahawks, Watson threw for 402 yards and four touchdowns.
After the game, Seahawks corner Richard Sherman said that Watson was the best quarterback that Seattle has ever faced.
Watson suffered the injury on the same day that he was named the AFC's Offensive Player of the Month, marking the first time in NFL history that a rookie quarterback had ever been given that honor. Watson was also named the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Month for October.
The rookie quarterback has been setting NFL records left and right since being named the Texans' starter back in Week 2. Over the past five games, Watson has thrown 18 touchdown passes, which is the NFL rookie record for any quarterback over a five-game span. Overall, Watson has thrown 19 touchdown passes through seven games, which is the most by any quarterback since 1970 playing in his first seven games.
Watson's season will end with 1,699 yards and 19 touchdown passes. Watson was on pace to throw 43 touchdown passes in 2017, which would've given him one of the top-eight single-season performances of all-time.
Dave Richard sorts out the Fantasy fallout of the Watson news here. Fantasy owners who have to make do without Watson can turn to Heath Cummings' streaming options for Week 9, which tab Houston's opponent this week as the No. 1 one-week option on the board. Here are the full QB rankings for Week 9, as well as Jamey Eisenberg's top waiver wire options this week.
As you can imagine, the injury to Watson did some some serious statistical damage to the Texans' playoff chances. According to our friends at SportsLine, the Texans playoff chances this year have now been cut in half. With Watson, the Texans had a 20.5 percent chance of making the playoffs. However, without Watson, that number drops to 10.7 percent. The Texans' win expectancy also took a hit, dropping from 7.7 to 7.0.
The loss of Watson adds to a pile of devstating injuries that the Texans have suffered this year. Besides Watson, the Texans have also lost J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus to season-ending injuries.
It's been a roller coaster 24 hours for the city of Houston, who got the news of Watson's injury just one day after watching the Astros win the World Series after a Game 7 victory over the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
