NFL
By: Brock Vierra
Last night against Pittsburgh, Nick Chubb suffered what can only be described as a gruesome and season-ending knee injury. A player who does everything the right way, Chubb was the workhorse for this Browns offense. So valuable to the team, he was able to secure himself an extension in a running back market that can only be described as skewed and unfair to players. In his absence, the Browns fell apart. While Chubb was taken to the locker room knowing his season is over, Browns fans though devastated, still held onto hope that their season didn’t go with the All-Pro running back.
Cleveland for some unknown reason decided to sell the house for Deshaun Watson. Watson, the forever controversial villain was gifted a whopping 230 million dollars guaranteed, a contract that is the first of its kind. The former Clemson standout dazzled during his time with the Texans and was set to join the Falcons before the Browns swooped in with a never-before-seen contract offer that he couldn’t refuse.
However, it seems that the player that the Browns traded 3 first-round picks for is not the one that signed the 230 million dollar contract. Until his trade, Deshaun Watson sat out the entire 2021 NFL season due to his issues with the Houston Texans, issues that stem from Houston breaking his trust over their coaching search. Watson who was drafted during the tenure of Bill O’Brien benefited from both an offensive scheme that fit his play and the best wide receiver in the NFL in DeAndre Hopkins. He lost both in 2021 and while he put up dazzling numbers with Brandin Cooks and Romeo Cronel, the team had just 5 wins.
So not only is Watson coming off of a poor 2020, supplemented by missing 2021, he also missed 12 games in 2022 due to suspension. Of course his punishment came from the masseuse scandal for which we the public still lack clarity on how severe Watson’s actions were, something we will never find out but also something that the league felt was so egregious, he was forced to endure one of the toughest punishments the NFL has ever handed down.
Those things are in the past and for Cleveland, all that matters is football and had Deshaun Watson balled out like let’s say Ben Roethlisberger (random comparison) we wouldn’t be having this conversation because as the old adage goes, winning solves all.
But he’s not winning. Yes he helped the Browns secure their first win in the season opener but the gunslinger that people once had penciled in as a sure fire Hall of Famer just feels like a dud.
His play is above average at best, he’s a constant public distraction, he keeps committing personal fouls and he should see a harsh fine from the league for touching an official on Monday night. After Chubb went out, the Browns scored 19 points. That was okay because Pittsburgh couldn’t score either. Yet the Steelers pulled this game out because Watson couldn’t get it done in the second half. In their 19 points, seven of them were scored after Chubb and that offense was already in the red zone, the result of a Steelers fumble. They scored another TD after a Jerome Ford’s 69 yard run that put Cleveland on the Steelers 1 yard line, they also kicked a field goal and scored two 2 point conversations. In the fourth quarter, up 22-19, Watson got stripped sacked by Alex Highsmith which TJ Watt took to the house for the eventual game winning score. Even on the final drive, despite justified pleas for DPI against Joey Porter Jr who was clearly holding Donovan Peoples-Jones, the Browns turned the ball over on downs and they lost. The team is not good. The QB is not good and they all have themselves to blame.
The Browns offensive line was uncharacteristically awful tonight and yes I understand it’s Pittsburgh with their deep defensive line but they also were without Cam Heyward yet still put up six sacks. The Steelers DB room was even more awful then the Browns offensive line yet Watson did nothing. Levi Wallace kept getting burnt and he dropped a Deshaun Watson interception that was literally like a punt into Wallace’s hands. Patrick Peterson is clearly losing the battle to Father Time and the Steelers once again could not guard a curl route so it’s not like Watson was facing the Legion of Boom.
Watson looked uncomfortable throwing the ball to receivers in tight pockets or in stride. He did not elevate the offense after Chubb’s injury and the Browns biggest play after Chubb left was just another run, Ford’s big run that contributed to his 106 rushing yards in the game. The Browns scored zero points in the fourth and Kevin Stefanski is placed firmly on the hot seat.
Watson has been a bust. In the eight games he’s played in as a Brown, he has 9 touchdown passes to 7 interceptions. He has a completion percentage under 60 percent while he had at least a 62 percent completion percentage with the Texans. Watson does have 2 rushing touchdowns to go along with his 2 lost fumbles. The Browns have gone 5-5 under Watson and they have scored over the NFL average of 23 points per game on only 3 occasions. Once was when they scored 27 against the Texans, a team that picked second overall in the following draft, 23 against Washington who went 8-8-1 that year and 24 this year against the Bengals in the season opener.
In the same year of Watson’s return (2022), Cleveland scored 23 or more points in 5 of the 8 games played without Watson. The previous year, the Browns scored 23 or more points on six different occasions which brings us to the finale.
While Cleveland is licking their wounds, their once beloved wonderboy Baker Mayfield is 2-0 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Mayfield who was the first overall pick in 2018 ended an awful streak of QB busts for the Browns. Mayfield ended a 19 game losing streak and helped Cleveland win 7 games his rookie year. The Browns were 7-51-1 in their previous 59 games before Mayfield’s debut just for reference. He made the playoffs, something the Browns haven’t done since 2002 and he won a playoff game, upsetting the Steelers in Pittsburgh, gifting the Browns their first playoff win since 1994.
The Browns in 2021 knew Mayfield would want an extension that offseason and felt he relied on the run game too much for what probably would’ve been around 4 years, 140-150 million dollar contract with about 100-110 guaranteed. Instead they gave up Mayfield, 3 first round picks, a third, a fourth and a guaranteed 230 million dollars to a guy that is playing far worse than Mayfield ever did while being a constant beacon for unwanted attention and is down right average at the game of football. Watson is 28. His athleticism will go as he gets older. Cleveland, Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Barry will find themselves hard pressed to find success with him. We reap what we sow and now the Dawg Pound can reap continued years of heartbreak, curtesy of incompetent leaders that run the factory of sadness. Should’ve let him go to Atlanta.
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