Deshaun Watson’s debut makes matters worse in Cleveland

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When Cleveland Browns first-year head coach Todd Monken announced Aug. 24 that Deshaun Watson had beaten out Shedeur Sanders for the Browns’ starting quarterback role, he explained that Watson gave Cleveland its best chance “to move the ball and score points.”

That may prove to be true in the long run, but it wasn’t the case in Week 1. On a Week 1 Sunday when 10 NFL teams scored 30 or more points, Cleveland managed just 10 points in a 34-10 season-opening loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Let’s be clear: Jacksonville is a superior team, a playoff team last year, and one that’s not guessing for an answer at quarterback. Still, while even the most diehard, long-suffering Browns fans could not have expected Cleveland to go on the road and upset Jacksonville, they could have expected a more promising performance out of Watson and the team.

After the dramatic preseason competition between Watson and Sanders became the most scrutinized quarterback battle in the NFL, the Browns’ opening day performance fell flat.

Sunday’s game got off to a hopeful start for Browns (not Sanders) fans when Watson completed his first two passes on the opening drive and Cleveland’s offense was on the Jacksonville 28-yard line. But Watson’s next effort was intercepted, and that would be the beginning of the Browns’ end.

Eight plays later, Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw a 30-yard touchdown pass, and Jacksonville was on the way. From that point on, the Jaguars’ confidence surged while the Browns became tentative: They couldn’t run it, couldn’t pass, and wouldn’t get on the board until a third-quarter field goal.

Watson’s 46-yard touchdown pass to rookie Denzel Boston with 1:52 left to play was the only Browns highlight of the afternoon. For Watson, who missed the last two years after suffering a pair of Achilles injuries, the heartening news is that he came out of the game in one piece.

“It’s a lot of emotion, honestly,” he said postgame. “Two years off, back against the wall. Yeah, it’s definitely a lot of emotions, a lot of anxiety — in a good way, because you just don’t know how the game is going to go. You don’t know how your body’s really going to hold up playing four quarters at a high tempo. So, this is my first time being able to put my body through that and come out healthy, which is a positive.”

Of course, a victory would have been better, but in Watson’s universe of missed time, which includes league-mandated suspensions and season-ending injuries, surviving his debut was something of a victory in and of itself.

“Wish we could have got the W, but at the same time, it was definitely a lot of just different emotions from just all over the place,” he said. “But I’m happy that I was able to come out healthy and put together a healthy game. We just gotta get some W’s and get some points on the board.”

I’m not sure how Watson’s postgame comments will land on that segment of the Cleveland fanbase that booed Watson at home, and which clearly is pulling for fan favorite Sanders to replace him as the starting quarterback.

While he got through the game unscathed, Watson hardly made a convincing case to remain the starter. Would Sanders have done better? Probably not against that Jacksonville defense. But he may have looked flashier in defeat.

Curiously, Monken was noncommittal after Sunday’s loss when asked if Watson would start next week on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which lost to the Cincinnati Bengals 33-27.

“I’d rather talk about today,” Monken said. “Because I haven’t even had time to look at the tape. We’ll evaluate everything, but to just to say that, emotionally here at the end, I mean, we didn’t play good enough. We’ll analyze everything that we do.”

By just about any weight or measure, Sunday was a rough day at the office for Monken, Watson and the Browns defense. Perhaps it was a good day for the Sanders faithful who may have come a game closer to seeing him start, but Monken repeated that he would not make a decision based on the desire of the fans.

Watson’s final line: 22 attempts, 16 completions, one touchdown, one interception. He was sacked five times.

Browns fans shouldn’t expect a quarterback change overnight. When Watson was named the starter, Monken said it was not a week-to-week decision. He said Watson, all things being equal, would be the starter throughout the season.

Of course, in Cleveland, all things are not equal. Fans are impatient, and they’ve already let the front office know how they feel about Watson.

Watson is coming off multiple Achilles injuries and because of the protracted quarterback competition, he didn’t have the entire training camp to work with the Browns starters. He needs more than one afternoon to establish rhythm, confidence and command — but with Sanders waiting in the wings, time may be one element Watson does not have.

Watson vs. Sanders was the most scrutinized quarterback competition in the NFL not because either player was tremendous, but because of the respective baggage and assets they brought to the competition.

Watson’s tenure was shrouded in controversy from the very first moment he came to Cleveland, not only because of the unprecedented, fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract, but because of the 27 women who filed lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct during his time with the Houston Texans.

He served an 11-game suspension to begin the 2022 season. That would be the beginning of an injury plagued period that saw Watson play in only 19 games in his first four seasons with Cleveland.

Sanders, meanwhile, brings a massive profile owing to his much-spotlighted college career playing for his father, Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.

The Browns have been trying to justify trading for Watson in the first place. With the former first-round pick in the final year of that contract, Cleveland is simply trying to see any return on the investment.

The professional stakes for Watson, who turns 31 on Monday, are high. He is not only trying to regain his form after injury, he’s trying to erase the past and make the argument that he has a future — if not in Cleveland, then somewhere in the NFL.

If Sunday’s performance is any indication, he and the Browns have a pretty steep mountain to climb.