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Texans QB Tyrod Taylor was a secret superstar in Week 1

Mark Lane
·1 min read

Same as last year, the Houston Texans have a superstar at quarterback.

Or, at least, the Texans have a secret superstar who flashed his brilliance in Week 1.

According to Doug Farrar from the Touchdown Wire, Tyrod Taylor was one of the underrated players from the first week of the regular season who had an elite performance. The former 2015 Pro Bowler led the Texans to their first Opening Day win since 2016.

With everything going on with Deshaun Watson, he’s the Texans’ starting quarterback. You could say he’s been through the NFL mill. And with all that, Taylor performed very well in Houston’s 37-21 opening win over the Jaguars, completing 21 of 33 passes for 291 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 112.1 — all with quite possibly the league’s worst offensive roster around him. Only Patrick Mahomes (185) had more passing yards under pressure than Taylor’s 182, and he completed nine of 16 passes under duress for a touchdown. On passes of 20 or more air yards, Taylor completed three of five passes for 116 yards. If you want to see how Taylor combined deep accuracy with the ability to make big plays under pressure, check out the 52-yard dart to receiver Brandin Cooks below.

Taylor is more than capable of providing value as a starter in the league, and though the circumstances are less than ideal, he proved against the Jaguars that he can still get it done.

Center Justin Britt said that Taylor actually bailed them out on a few of his big plays.

“He bailed us out on a couple ones where we were screwed up on our idea in what we were going to do, and he made us right and he made a big play out of it,” said Britt. “It definitely gives us a big jump of confidence and belief in Tyrod and that he can do it, and we just have to keep building.”

The Texans take on the Cleveland Browns Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time at FirstEnergy Stadium. Houston will need another secret superstar performance from someone to get to 2-0 for the first time since 2016.