The Houston Texans on Wednesday fired back at an east Texas school superintendent who wrote: “You can’t count on a black quarterback,” in the comments section of an online news article where he was criticizing quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Lynn Redden is superintendent of the Onalaska Independent School District in Piney Woods, about 120km north of Houston.
In his post in the comments section of a story written by the Houston Chronicle and posted on Facebook, Redden referred to the last play of Sunday’s game, in which Watson let the clock run down before completing a pass to DeAndre Hopkins in a 20-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans.
Redden’s full post read: “When you need precision decision making you can’t count on a black quarterback.”
It was quickly deleted, but not before another reader took a screenshot of it and sent it to the newspaper.
Coach Bill O’Brien was on Wednesday asked what he thought about the post.
“I really don’t want to waste a lot of time responding to outdated, inaccurate, ignorant, idiotic statements,” O’Brien said. “I’ll just let Deshaun’s proven success on the field, his character off the field, speak for itself. He’s one of the greatest guys I’ve ever coached. He represents everything that’s right about football, about life.”
Watson took a different tact, saying that he did not waste any time worrying about what Redden posted.
“That’s on him,” Watson said. “May peace be with him. I worry about me, so I’m not worried about what he has to say.”
Watson, who is in his second year with the Texans after leading Clemson University to a national championship in the 2016 season, did acknowledge that he has dealt with racism throughout his life.
However, he added that he cannot let it bother him.
“It’s part of life,” Watson said. “I can’t control what other people, what their beliefs are. I can control what I can control. I just focus on me, and that’s it.”
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