Cleveland’s season opener turned into a nightmare almost immediately, and Deshaun Watson ended up right at the center of it.
In his first game back since 2024, Watson’s day started with an interception on the opening drive and never really recovered. The Browns were beaten 34-10, and the early turnover helped set the tone for a game that quickly got away from them.
Watson did finish with 205 passing yards and a touchdown, but those numbers don’t do much to soften the picture. The scoring throw came late, long after the outcome was settled, even if the pass itself was a beauty to Denzel Boston.
For Cleveland, the ugly part is that the performance may still have been enough to keep Watson in the lineup. Head coach Todd Monken made it clear Watson gave the team the best option to win, which puts the Browns in a tough spot. If Shedeur Sanders were to replace him now, it would immediately invite questions about how Sanders could be expected to do better than what Watson showed Sunday.
That leaves the Browns where they didn’t want to be: stuck with Watson, at least for the moment, after an offense that managed only 10 points. He looked uneasy early, then opened up only once the game had already slipped into garbage time and the Jacksonville defense seemed to back off.
The late touchdown did at least put a clean throw on film and offered a reminder that some of Watson’s old talent is still there. But the bigger takeaway was hard to ignore: the Browns lost big, Watson struggled for most of the afternoon, and he still may have done enough to earn another start.
It wasn’t just the quarterback, either. Cleveland’s defense looked nothing like the 2025 version it was supposed to be. Jacksonville receivers found space all over the secondary, and Trevor Lawrence finished with four touchdown passes.
Mason Graham was the only Browns defender to record a sack, while Jared Verse fell short of the lofty expectations that followed his arrival in the Myles Garrett trade.
The whole operation was messy. The offense never found a rhythm, the defense leaked all day, and Monken made things worse in the eyes of many by kicking a field goal while trailing 31-0. A shutout might have forced a quarterback change, for better or worse, but that never happened.
Now Cleveland heads back to Florida to face Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Mayfield is expected to have revenge on his mind, and plenty of Browns fans will likely be rooting for him to get it.
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Messick also drew attention for the way he worked efficiently and held up deep into the outing, traits that can matter just as much in September as pure stuff. The conversation on MLB Network went a step further, with both analysts floating the idea that his early impact could eventually put him in the mix for a Cy Young finish, a remarkable thought for a pitcher who arrived with far less fanfare than the usual postseason difference-maker. For Cleveland, the bigger takeaway is obvious: a young arm nobody expected is suddenly giving the club a weapon it can trust. [Read more 🡒]