Report: Deshaun Watson Took Bus to Jaguars Game Due to Concern over Injuries

The Houston Texans and quarterback Deshaun Watson are taking a number of precautions because of Watson's bruised lungs and injured ribs, including keeping him off the team plane on the trip to Jacksonville this weekend, per Jay Glazer of Fox Sports:

During the week, Watson told reporters he was good enough to play.

"For sure, I wouldn't be out there if it would've caused any more problems," he said (h/t Herbie Teope of NFL.com). "I talked it over with my family [and] doctors and everything, and everything was fine. That's the only reason why I was out there."

Not good enough to travel in a plane, however.

Watson, 23, remains pivotal to Houston's success. The second-year quarterback is having a strong season, throwing for 1,798 yards, nine touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 64.5 percent of his passes. 

The Texans are now 6-7 in his appearances over the past two years. Without him last season, they went 1-8.

Injuries are becoming a mounting concern, however. His 2017 season was cut short with a torn ACL, while this season he's dealing with significant injuries. But Watson fully intends to battle through those issues:

"I've always had that mentality. I've played through a lot of injuries before, as a young kid through high school. Never missed a game until I got to college where the ACL was the issue and then last year, same, ACL was the issue that kept me out. Outside of that, I was always on the field just playing. Once the game was over, kind of regroup and recover."

This week, regrouping simply meant taking a very long bus ride.