CLEVELAND — How lengthy? How for much longer do Browns followers have to attend to see the quarterback they have been promised?
We’re into Yr 3 of the Deshaun Watson Expertise and the primary lap across the monitor didn’t really feel any otherwise. Is it too late to talk to a supervisor and request a refund?
It’s imagined to be completely different this 12 months. He’s wholesome now. The suspension is lengthy behind him. The offense has been rebuilt to swimsuit his strengths. The Browns have overhauled their complete operation to make him extra comfy.
Success can nonetheless occur. It’s just one recreation and this offense had little time collectively within the preseason and coaching camp. That was evident throughout Sunday’s 33-17 embarrassment by the hands of the Dallas Cowboys.
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Watson ought to’ve performed in some unspecified time in the future within the preseason. That’s an organizational failure. It was 300 days from his damaged shoulder final season till Sunday’s opener. We’ve been by this earlier than with Watson and lengthy layoffs. We all know the way it ends by now.
It might not have made a distinction in Sunday’s end result, however it’s unattainable to look at the Browns’ first recreation and imagine they have been prepared for the beginning of the season. They weren’t. Whether or not they’ll be prepared for the beginning of the season by Week 2 is debatable at this level.
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However the bulk of this mess belongs to the quarterback. His minus-0.36 EPA/play was tied for second-worst on Sunday. Sure, there have been far too many drops by his receivers, however his anticipated completion share was nonetheless lower than 64 %. That was fourth-worst for Week 1 coming into Sunday evening’s recreation.
If we’re being trustworthy, this rebuilt offense had a “the orange is oranger” sort of really feel to it. Nothing actually appeared a lot completely different from what we’ve seen beforehand apart from a deeper disdain to run the ball. There have been solely a handful of RPO calls and no less than considered one of them was negated by penalty. Watson was nonetheless underneath middle for an honest period of time.
Watson was hit 17 instances and sacked six. The 17 hits have been simply essentially the most of any quarterback in Week 1. However the one narrative we are able to’t have this week, the one speaking level I gained’t stand for is that Watson was hit an excessive amount of as a result of his safety broke down and he didn’t have sufficient time to throw. It’s a lazy assumption based mostly on the statistics and essentially the most outrageous lie you’ll hear all week. It’s categorically false. Even Browns coach Kevin Stefanski has been duped.
“He acquired hit method too typically,” Stefanski stated. “We are able to’t let that occur to him. … We have now to guard our quarterback higher than that.”
Or, and listen to me out, the quarterback has to guard himself higher than that.
Dallas’ protection blitzed on one-fourth of its snaps, which was pretty common in comparison with different Week 1 groups. Listed below are the necessary numbers to know, in accordance with a deep dive on information offered by TruMedia and PFF. The entire league-wide rankings are by all Week 1 video games earlier than Monday evening.
• Watson averaged 4.16 seconds to throw per pressured dropback Sunday, the eighth-best time underneath strain. On sacks that resulted from strain, he held the ball for 4.29 seconds, the sixth-best time in Week 1.
• On the six sacks he did take, his common time to throw was 4.87 seconds — which ranked tenth.
• Since he joined the Browns in 2022, Watson has been the slowest from snap to throw on pressured dropbacks of any quarterback throughout the league (4.60 seconds). Tom Brady, who coincidentally referred to as the sport for Fox, was the quickest at 3.26 seconds.
A part of what has made Watson nice all through his profession is his capacity to carry the ball and lengthen performs. It’s disingenuous to then flip round and blame his line for defense breakdowns when they’re giving him extra time to throw in opposition to strain than some other offensive line within the NFL the previous two-plus seasons.
This isn’t a safety problem. It’s a Watson problem.
There have been expensive process and false begin penalties Sunday on each of the Browns’ beginning tackles. That has to get cleaned up. However there was no less than one sack that occurred as a result of Watson was standing the place he wasn’t anticipated to be so the safety wasn’t angled that method.
It’s rhythm and timing points. It’s “really feel” points. It simply doesn’t seem to be he’s seeing the sector nicely. Or he’s not processing what he’s seeing.
There have been receivers open down the sector Sunday, Watson was simply busy throwing the ball 7 yards out of bounds on sideline routes and fade routes into the top zone.
Right here’s the very best throw Deshaun Watson made yesterday. Hit CeeDee in stride.
Baller.#Brownspic.twitter.com/ifwtAlyzio
— Ed Greenberger (@EdGreenberger) September 9, 2024
It was terrible. It was worse than terrible. It was among the worst quarterback play within the league throughout Week 1.
Forty-five minutes after Sunday’s recreation ended, whereas most gamers had showered and lengthy departed the locker room, Watson was nonetheless unshowered sporting stained soccer pants and chatting with backup quarterback Jameis Winston.
It was an emotional few days for Watson, whose father died this week. He was estranged from his father for many of his life, in accordance with a Houston Chronicle story in 2017. However navigating grief is rarely simple.
“I’m not going to make use of that as an excuse for why we performed dangerous, however it was a heavy coronary heart these final couple of days,” Watson stated. “However once more, I don’t need to use that as an excuse.”
Stefanski and the Browns have performed all the pieces they will to make Watson extra comfy on this offense. As Yr 3 begins, the group is holding on tight, patiently ready for its $230 million gamble to indicate a correct return on its daring funding.
How lengthy? How for much longer will they’ve to attend?
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(Photograph of Deshaun Watson getting hit by Micah Parsons: Nick Cammett / Getty Pictures)