HOUSTON (Sports Radio 610) – A feeling of optimism pervaded the Houston Texans' locker room and coaches' offices despite their loss in the wild-card round of the postseason to the Indianapolis Colts.
"The future is bright for this organization. The future is always going to be bright regardless of who's here," Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson said. "This season was a lot of ups and downs. We came through a lot of adversity. Started off 0-3, made a run, clinched the division, had an opportunity for this playoff run.
"It didn't end the way we wanted it to end, but at the end of the day looking at the full season, you should have some smiles, some more positivity than a lot of negative stuff looking back at the season. The organization, in the future, it's bright for the future. Hopefully I'm a part of it, for sure, for a long time."
On the defensive side, the Texans have a pair of solid, young middle linebackers in Benardrick McKinney and Zach Cunningham, a promising rookie in Justin Reid, other key cogs they could bring back in Jadeveon Clowney and Tyrann Mathieu and who would doubt J.J. Watt? On offense, the Texans have promising, young wide receivers around DeAndre Hopkins to give Watson dangerous weapons going forward.
"Keke (Coutee) is a very dynamic player ... but he only played a certain amount of games. He's a great guy. He knows what he needs to do, but we've got to keep him healthy," Texans head coach Bill O'Brien said during his season ending press conference. "Will Fuller is obviously a very dynamic player. Great speed, great route runner, all those things, but we need him for a full 16-game season. So, we've got to figure that out. The players have to be part of that, too. They've got to keep their end of the bargain up and figure out how to stay healthy."
Watson is the biggest reason for optimism. The Texans have a franchise quarterback on a rookie deal whom they can build around. Watson, 23, had a solid second year -- threw for over four thousand yards and ran for over five hundred -- and stayed healthy the entire season following knee surgery.
"He's a young player who I think made tremendous strides this year. I don't think he has a ceiling," O'Brien said. "I think we've got to, together, work to figure out how to get him to the next level, because there is a next level, but I believe, I know, that we have the right guy. We've got a guy that's a dynamic player that loves to be in critical situations and loves to have the ball in his hands."
