A school superintendent in Texas said he thought he was sending a private message when he wrote a public Facebook post blasting Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, stating, “you can’t count on a black quarterback.”
Lynn Redden, superintendent of the Onalaska Independent School District, made the comment in reference to the final play of the Texans’ 20-17 loss on Sunday to the Tennessee Titans during which Watson held onto the ball before completing a pass to receiver DeAndre Hopkins as time expired, leaving no time to try a last-second, game-tying field goal.
“That may have been the most inept quarterback decision I’ve seen in the NFL,” Redden wrote on a Facebook post promoting a Houston Chronicle story about the game. “When you need precision decision making you can’t count on a black quarterback.”
But Redden didn’t realize that the post was public. He later deleted his comment and
told the Chronicle he wishes he never shared that sentiment.
“I totally regret it,” Redden told the newspaper.
Redden, who oversees 1,130 students and 175 staffers as the district’s superintendent, did not immediately return a message seeking comment from The Post early Tuesday. He had not faced any discipline in connection with the remark as of Monday afternoon but told the Chronicle he understands how people may consider it to be racist.
Redden said he was referring to the statistical success of black quarterbacks in the NFL.
“Over the history of the NFL, they have had limited success,” he told the newspaper.
Doug Williams in 1988 became the league’s first black quarterback to lead his team to a championship, taking the Washington Redskins over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXII. Williams, who started the season as a backup, was named the game’s MVP after completing 18-of-29 passes for 340 yards and four touchdowns.
More recently, in 2014, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson became the second black quarterback to win it all, beating the Denver Broncos 43-8 in his second season as a pro.
The eagle-eyed reader who caught Redden’s comment, meanwhile, said he hopes there are repercussions to follow.
“It’s important to make sure horrible words are met with consequences, especially for those in powerful positions with influence,” reader Matt Erickson told the newspaper.
Watson, for his part, said the Titans simply countered with “good coverage” during the game’s waning seconds,
according to ESPN.
Asked if he should’ve thrown the ball away earlier, he said: “Of course.
“But while you’re playing … you can sit back and sit in your seats and say that I needed to throw the ball away,” Watson said. “But we tried to take a shot and we didn’t have any timeouts and they guarded the sideline very well. So my instincts took over and tried to get the ball and time ran out.”
Coach Bill O’Brien instead took most of the blame.
“We’re just trying to get it into field goal range and just trying to — we’ve got to do a better job of coaching that play up,” O’Brien told reporters.