Deshaun Watson’s latest answer did nothing to calm the noise around him.
After another rough outing to open the season, the Browns quarterback brushed off the pressure by saying the expectations around him come from the media, not from reality. He made the comment with a grin, even as the criticism around his play keeps piling up.
“No, I think personally, I think all that is for the media. I think the media has this expectation that I'm supposed to throw 400 yards and five touchdowns ever week,” he said with a grin.
“So until that happens, I guess it's going to be the same situation. So again, my job is to make sure I'm operating well so we can try to get a win and keep moving forward.”
That response landed the way a lot of Watson’s recent comments have landed: with a collective eye roll from Browns fans and media members alike. It’s already at least the second time in the past month that Watson has said something at a press conference that rubbed people the wrong way. Earlier, he took aim at Cleveland fans for booing him and cheering when he got hurt, insisting their reaction had nothing to do with his performance.
This latest remark comes against the backdrop of another underwhelming game in Jacksonville last Sunday. Watson finished 16-of-22 for 205 yards, one touchdown and one interception, which looks respectable on paper. But the numbers don’t tell the full story.
A lot of that production came after the Browns were already buried. Through three quarters, Watson was 11-of-17 for 100 yards and an interception as Cleveland trailed 34-3.
In the fourth quarter, with the game already decided, he added five completions for 105 yards and a touchdown. The Browns’ only score came on a 46-yard touchdown pass to Denzel Boston with 1:52 left.
Watson was also sacked five times.
The box score, in other words, made the outing look better than it really was.
And that has been the bigger problem since Watson arrived in Cleveland in 2022. The Browns are 9-11 in the games he has played, and over 20 appearances in three seasons he has completed 354 of 579 passes, a 61.1% clip, for 3,570 yards, 20 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. That works out to 178.5 passing yards and one touchdown per game.
Watson has not thrown for 300 yards since Jan. 3, 2021, when he was still with the Houston Texans. In his 20 games with the Browns, he has topped 250 passing yards only twice and has thrown more than two touchdowns just once.
That’s why his comments about media expectations rang so hollow. Browns fans and the people covering the team are not asking for 400 yards and five touchdowns every Sunday.
They want competent quarterback play. They want someone who can make the right throws, keep the offense moving and give Cleveland a real chance to win.
Instead, Watson keeps adding to the frustration. Even after Jimmy Haslam called the trade for Watson “a big swing-and-miss” 18 months ago, Watson somehow found himself back in the starting job in Cleveland. And with his play still drawing criticism, comments like these only make the whole situation harder to ignore.
In Other News...
Browns Just Sent A Clear Week 2 Message After That Week 1 Letdown
After a disappointing Week 1 showing, the Browns spent Tuesday making sure the roster looked a little different heading into the next phase of the season. The club announced eight roster moves, highlighted by placing Dylan Sampson on injured reserve, while also juggling several practice squad changes as it continued to sort through the best available options on the back end of the roster.
The timing fit a broader reset around the team, with Todd Monken weighing in on the offense, the Week 2 unofficial depth chart offering a first look at how the staff is lining up its plans, and the Browns staying active off the field through community events. With Cleveland sitting near the bottom of the league after Week 1, the message has been clear: there is plenty to clean up, and the next stretch will say a lot about how quickly this group can respond. [Read more 🡒]
Todd Monken Is Creating A New Browns Problem With Deshaun Watson
After a rough Week 1 loss, Todd Monken spent much of his postgame tone trying to steady the conversation around Deshaun Watson rather than add to it. The Browns coach publicly defended his quarterback, pointing to a few positive plays in an otherwise uneven outing, and then made clear he expects Watson to be back under center in Week 2. Monken also stressed that once the starter is chosen, the rest of the team has to support him, which is standard enough on its face but carried extra weight given how the opener looked.
The problem for Monken is that this kind of defense can start to sound like minimizing what everyone just watched. Watson did not have the kind of debut that invites a gentle hand, and when a coach leans too hard into the positives, it can create a disconnect between the sideline message and the reality on the field. For a Browns team trying to establish a new identity early in the season, Monken is already facing a familiar NFL test - how long can you protect your quarterback without beginning to test your own credibility? [Read more 🡒]
Browns Fans May Hate Where The Week 1 Sack Blame Lands
The Browns came out of Week 1 with the same ugly result every team wants to avoid, and the film-grading only added another layer to the frustration. Deshaun Watson was taken down five times against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but Pro Football Focus pinned all of those sacks on Watson rather than the offensive line or any other blocker, a distinction that changes the conversation around where the protection really broke down.
For Cleveland, there was at least a small reason to keep watching the front five beyond the final score. The offensive line, with rookies Spencer Fano and Austin Barber in the mix, showed better signs in pass blocking and run blocking grades, suggesting some progress even in a game where the Browns still had plenty to clean up. Whether that improvement carries over will matter more than any single sack count, but the early picture is already a tricky one for fans trying to sort blame from encouragement. [Read more 🡒]