An Overachieving Quarterback On An Underachieving Team

Sunday will mark the end of the brief Jacoby Brissett Era in Cleveland, assuming everything goes as expected.

Of course, when it comes to the Cleveland Browns this year, nothing has gone as expected, so stay tuned.

For now, however, let’s assume that in this case there will be no surprises. Sunday will be the 11^th and final game of the 11-game suspension the NFL imposed on Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson for violating the league’s Player Conduct Policy.

Watson will make his Browns debut a week from Sunday, in Houston, against the Texans, Watson’s former team. It will be Watson’s first appearance in an NFL game in nearly two years – since the last game of the 2020 season.

However, Watson’s Browns debut will likely be too little, too late for a Cleveland team that, for the second consecutive year, has been one of the most underachieving teams in the NFL. The 3-7 Browns have won just one game since September 22, and they’ve gone over one calendar year since winning consecutive games, which last happened on October 3, 2021.

Sunday the Browns will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in what will be Browns backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett’s final start as Watson’s stand-in. As evidenced by their record, not many Browns players have distinguished themselves this season. But Brissett has.

The 29-year-old veteran has been better than expected in putting up numbers that suggest his team should have a far better record than it does. For example, the QBR numbers for quarterbacks in the AFC North this season: Brissett 61.9, Lamar Jackson 60.0, Joe Burrow 56.0, Kenny Pickett 43.0.

Brissett also has thrown for almost the same number of yards as Jalen Hurts (2,907), Brissett has a better completion percentage (64.4) than Josh Allen, and a lower interception rate (1.5) than Patrick Mahomes. Additionally, on a team lacking leadership, Brissett has excelled in that role, as well. Brissett has been a beacon of professionalism, on the field and off.

Expecting that the NFL would likely suspend Watson for an indeterminate number of games, the Browns, before the season even started, knew they would need a capable backup quarterback, and they wasted little time in finding one. Cleveland traded for Watson on March 21. Four days later they signed free agent Brissett to be Watson’s backup.

Despite the team’s current 3-7 record, the Browns’ offense under Brissett has been among the league’s best. Among AFC teams only Buffalo, Kansas City and Miami have gained more yards than Cleveland. Only Buffalo and Kansas City have more first downs, and only the Chiefs, Dolphins and Bills have gained more yards per play. Brissett has been a big reason for all of that.

“He’s performed how we thought he would in his role,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “But more than that, he’s provided outstanding leadership for this football team.”

Brissett has also been a model of professionalism, and a team-first teammate, who endures, rather than seeks the spotlight.

Asked about playing as well as he has, Brissett said, “That’s what I signed up for. I don’t think I should be commended for doing my job, doing what I’m supposed to do, and doing what I told myself, and everyone else, I was going to do.”

He’s done so without fanfare, without controversy, and with a maturity indicative of one who knows, and accepts, his role on the team, which was to keep the offense humming until Watson returned from his suspension.

Brissett has done all of that, even if his team’s record doesn’t show it.

“I envisioned us winning more games, but we haven’t so far,” he said. “But I signed up for this. I knew what I was getting myself into. I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task. It’s never easy. I wasn’t brought here for easy. I knew I was the right person for it and I still believe I am.”

Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay will be Brissett’s final appearance in the “Waiting for Watson” portion of the Browns’ schedule. It’s impossible to predict the future, but it seems safe to assume that it’s unlikely Watson, who hasn’t played in a regular season NFL game in almost two years, will hit the ground running when he replaces Brissett for the Browns’ last six games. The statistics show that the Browns’ offense under Brissett hasn’t exactly been sputtering this season. The team’s problems have chiefly been with the defense and special teams.

The problem has NOT been Jacoby Brissett. He signed up for the daunting task of keeping the Browns afloat in the AFC North until Watson took over. Brissett did his part. But the majority of the rest of the Browns’ team did not.

For a number of reasons, the Browns as a team, for the second year in a row, have been a major disappointment, this time even with their backup quarterback playing better than anyone could have expected.