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          Texans QB Brock Osweiler: No extra pressure on offense in Watt's absence

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          Is Watt the best player in football? (1:13)

          Antonio Pierce agrees with Texans coach Bill O'Brien that DE J.J. Watt is the best player in football and thinks Houston can still make the playoffs. (1:13)

          • Sarah Barshop, ESPN Staff WriterSep 28, 2016, 08:20 PM ET
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              Sarah Barshop covers the Los Angeles Rams for ESPN. She joined ESPN in 2016 to cover the Green Bay Packers for ESPN Milwaukee. She then moved to Houston to cover the Texans. She came to ESPN after working as a writer and editor for Sports Illustrated. You can follow her on Twitter @sarahbarshop.
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          HOUSTON -- Even though the Houston Texans invested heavily in the offense during the offseason, the identity of the team was still J.J. Watt and the defense.

          And through three games, the defense has outplayed the offense. But even though Houston placed Watt on injured reserve on Wednesday, quarterback Brock Osweiler doesn’t think the three-time Defensive Player of the Year's absence puts any more pressure on the offense.

          “I don’t think anything changes offensively now that the news of J.J. going on IR has come out,” Osweiler said. “Bottom line, we need to score points. We need to score a lot of them. We knew that whether he was put on IR or not.”

          In the first three games of the season, Osweiler has completed 59.6 percent of his passes for 695 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions. His worst game came Thursday in Houston’s 27-0 loss to the New England Patriots, during which he never established an offensive rhythm and the Texans didn’t cross midfield until less than two minutes left in the third quarter.

          Despite giving up 27 points to the Patriots, the defense kept the game close in the first half. Only down 10-0, the Texans offense had many chances to get back into the game, including a 3rd-and-2 with two minutes to go in the quarter. But though they were a few plays from getting back into the game, the offense couldn’t get it done.

          But regardless of Osweiler's struggles in Week 3, head coach Bill O’Brien said he thinks his quarterback “is playing pretty well.”

          “I know he’s had some interceptions, and obviously that’s not good and we have to stop doing that,” O’Brien said. “But when you watch the tape, based on what we’ve asked him to do, it’s been pretty decent.

          “There’s always things with every player that they need to work on to improve. We talk about that every day. We’re around these guys all the time. They really work hard to improve on the things that we ask them to improve on.”

          Osweiler said he has taken a lot from watching film against the Patriots, including making better decisions that lead to "scoring points.”

          “I think today was a little bit better and I hope that the rest of the week keeps getting better and better because we know we need to do our part offensively,” Osweiler said. “I think the defense has done a tremendous job this year through the first three games. Now it’s time for the offense to step up as a unit, finish drives, score points, protect the football and do our part of the deal.”