How Many Games Can The Cleveland Browns Win With Deshaun Watson In Catch-Up Mode?

Playing in his first NFL game in nearly two years, Deshaun Watson’s team won in spite of him, not because of him.

That shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone – and it wasn’t.

“That was his first one in a long time, so there was going to be a little bit of playing through that,” said Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, of Watson’s performance in Cleveland’s ugly 27-14 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday.

How ugly was it?

The Browns’ offense failed to score a touchdown in the game, but still won by two touchdowns. Watson, playing his first game after serving an 11-game suspension for violating the NFL’s Player Conduct Policy, was virtually no factor at all in the Browns’ win over the NFL’s worst team, the 1-10-1 Texans.

Watson completed 12 of 22 passes for 131 yards, with one interception. He was also sacked once.

“It’s been seven hundred days, and I felt every one of those seven hundred days,” Watson said. “The biggest thing was getting in and out of the huddles, and calling plays. I didn’t have too many miscommunications with Kevin. After seven hundred days it’s not going to be perfect, especially playing December football. It’s week thirteen or fourteen, but it’s week one for me.”

Watson, a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback for the Texans from 2018-20, looked and played like a quarterback seeing his first game action in nearly two years. Mechanically he was a mess, throwing multiple passes into the ground, well in front of his receivers, and appearing tentative in some of his reads.

Cleveland officials weren’t expecting peak Watson in his first game back, and it was fortunate for the Browns that they drew the dreadful Texans as the opponent against which Watson could knock some of his rust off without it costing the Browns a win. Indeed, Houston might have been the only team Cleveland could have beaten Sunday.

These are tense times for the Browns, who, despite an outstanding performance by backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett, lost seven of their 11 games while waiting for Watson. The Browns might have to win all of their remaining five games – Cincinnati, Baltimore, New Orleans, Washington and Pittsburgh – in order to reach the playoffs, so the sooner Watson can get up to speed, the better.

“He’ll get more comfortable with the more game reps he gets,” Stefanski said. “All the things with Deshaun are correctable.”

Watson’s teammates, like Watson’s bosses, feel Watson will show a big jump in performance from his first game back to his second game back, which will come Sunday in Cincinnati, against the AFC North division foe Bengals.

“He’s been out a while, but I think he’ll make a huge jump because he’s really a talented player,” said Browns tight end Harrison Bryant.

Watson needs to make a huge jump, because the Browns are virtually in must-win mode for the remainder of the season. Beating the Bengals in Cincinnati, with a quarterback who has only played one game in the last two years will be a challenge.

Cleveland, however, has never lost to Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. The Browns are 4-0 against Burrow, and have outscored Cincinnati 124-77 in those four games. In those games, Burrow has completed 68 percent of his passes, eight for touchdowns, with four interceptions. The Browns have sacked him 17 times.

Normally a Watson vs. Burrow quarterback matchup would be electric. But that may not be the case, with Watson having only played one game this season, regardless of how big a jump the Browns feel he might make from his shaky performance in that one game.

“It’s a team game and we have to play better on offense than we played (Sunday),” Stefanski said of Sunday’s game in Cincinnati. “For Deshaun, it’s getting back to the basics. Yes, there was a long layoff, so certain things will only come with more game reps and practice, and I expect that to happen.”

Watson is understandably glad to have that ugly first performance behind him. “I’m excited to be back on the field,” he said. “Next week I need to be better, and I will be better.”

Cleveland probably has to win out to reach the playoffs. How Watson plays will be a big factor on whether the Browns can keep running the table ON the table.