HOUSTON — This is the Deshaun Watson the Houston Texans have been waiting for all season.
Watson matched his career high with five touchdown passes to lead the Texans to their fifth straight victory, 42-23 over the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night.
The second-year quarterback has played well at times this year but hadn’t had a breakout game while dealing with rib and lung injuries over the past few weeks.
The Texans (5-3) have left their 0-3 start behind with their longest single-season winning streak since reeling off six victories in a row in 2012.
“I think we’ve got the best offense in the NFL,” receiver DeAndre Hopkins said. “What we put up tonight against a pretty good defense, what we’ve shown in these past five games that we’ve won, we’re up there with the best of the best.”
Watson threw touchdown passes of 13, 2, 73, 49 and 2 yards to give him 34 career scoring passes, moving ahead of Dan Marino (32) for second-most in NFL history after 15 games.
“This offense can be very explosive,” Watson said. “We can do a lot of good things, put a lot of points on the board.”
Miami’s Brock Osweiler, who had one tough season in Houston after signing a $72 million contract in 2016, threw for 241 yards with an interception in his third straight start in place of injured starter Ryan Tannehill.