Watson vows to return ‘better, stronger and more focused than ever’

Former Clemson star Deshaun Watson was off the best start of any rookie quarterback in NFL history, before tearing his ACL Thursday.

Watson, who led the Tigers to the national championship last season, vowed to return Friday. In a post on Twitter, Watson wrote he’ll return to the Houston Texans better than ever.

In the tweet, Watson wrote about emotional pain the injury caused.

“They say you never miss it until it’s gone and even though it’s not gone for long, I already miss it. Yesterday I felt like I let my teammates, my fans and my family down. However, as a child of God, I understand that everything happens for a reason. He DON’T make mistakes!”

Watson added more, mentioning the recovery. He’s overcome a torn ACL in the past, tearing the ligament in his opposite leg as a freshman at Clemson. He played through the injury in a game at Williams-Brice Stadium, leading the Tigers over Palmetto State rival South Carolina and snapping a five-game losing skid to the Gamecocks.

“Today, the journey back seems far but I’ve been here before and will conquer it once again. I want to thank each and every one of my teammates for their unwavering support. My NFL brothers, thanks for all the prayers. To my fans, I cannot begin to express my gratitude for your relentless encouragement. To the countless others who have reached out, I am humbled and can only say thank you from the depths of my heart. I play this game for you all, and I am grateful for the love you have shown me, not only over the past 24 hours, but throughout this entire season.”

For the season, Watson has completed 126 of 204 attempts (a 61.8 completion percentage) for 1,699 yards, 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

“I promise that I will continue to work diligently so that this team can one day bring a championship to Houston, and when I return, I will be better, stronger and more focused than ever before! Now the grind begins.... #815 #Memo GODSPEED

▪  A small thing to a GIANT”

Watson mentioned receiving support from the brotherhood of NFL players, most of whom he has impressed with his dazzling start. Among those to specifically reach out to Watson is a Giant, a New York Giant.

Like Watson, Giants All-Pro receiver Odell Beckham Jr. suffered a season-ending injury. Beckham, who received the support of his peers after getting hurt was quick to pay it forward to Watson.

Beckham tweeted support and encouragement to Watson, saying “Everything is a blessing in disguise. … We will be back better than ever.”

Watson’s college coach, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, also issued support, saying he has “nodoubt” that the former Tigers star will bounce back and go on to have a strong NFL career.

“He is a person who has had some setbacks in his life, and always comes back stronger. Since he went through the rehab before, he knows what it takes,” Swinney said. “At least this happened in the middle of the season and he has had the opportunity to show what he can do.”

In his last game, a 41-38 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Watson became the first quarterback in NFL history with 400-or-more passing yards, four touchdown passes and 55-or-more rushing yards in a game.

In the game, Watson extended his rookie-record of passing for 225-or-more yards and rushing for 20-or-more yards to five games.

Watson also broke the mark set by Kurt Warner in 1999, throwing 19 touchdowns through his first seven career NFL games.

Watson had his third game of four-or-more passing TDs, joining Fran Tarkenton (1961) as the only rookie to accomplish the feat.

Watson was just eight touchdowns away from surpassing the NFL single-season mark for touchdown passes thrown by a rookie quarterback. The current record holders are Peyton Manning and a Russell Wilson.

This story was originally published November 3, 2017 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Watson vows to return ‘better, stronger and more focused than ever’."