As our Browns continue camp the season gets closer. If you listen to local sports media, or the national shows, the main focus is about Deshaun Watson and what kind of season he’ll have after his injury. I get it, QB talk is popular and what else is there to talk about right now? But as much as they bloviate and pontificate about Watson, I have to admit overall I don’t have many of those same questions.
To me, how Watson will play has long been established, we got what we got. He’s not some rookie or guy in his second year. He’s a veteran of major college football where he had great success. He is also a veteran of the NFL for a number of seasons, with a slightly above .500 record and a single playoff win with the Texans a few years ago. That’s who he is and the guaranteed 230 million doesn’t change that. There’s a lot of talk about “What Watson” we get this year will determine our fate. I would say a healthy Watson would be preferable, and he should be. He’s had a long time to rehab, under the supervision of some of the best doctors one can have. I’m not worried about this injury.
This season, Watson will make some amazing plays, some average plays, and he’ll do some things that will hurt his team on the field. He’ll throw some incredible TD passes, and he’ll take too many sacks and hard hits that will have us all holding our breath. The Browns will look very different than years past. This year we are going to run the offense that HE wants to run. Understanding this, he’s in charge of the direction of the offense. And not just on the field. Joe Flacco completely embarrassed Watson by directing this offense immediately to heights not seen in decades simply by getting off his couch.
This years offense is not what 2 time Coach Of The Year Kevin Stafanski wants to run, or the one he’s had great success with in the past. I have to hand it to Stefanski, he’s been told what they’re going to do and he’s rolling with it. So much so, he’s washed his hands clean of it. They fired or lost all the coaches and players in Watson’s way and they brought in an Offensive Coordinator from Buffalo, Ken Dorsey who ran the same kind of offense there, where their success has not been more than just a decent playoff team. If this works, Stefanski can say he brought in the right guy with a new offense – everyone looks good. If it fails, we should do it my way. Pretty savvy and shrewd by coach, every ounce of pressure is on Dorsey and Watson.
There seems to be an expectation of Watson becoming this elite player. He’s had some nice success at times in years past posting some truly gaudy numbers for average to far below average teams. And many are hanging on to the second half of the Baltimore game last year where he got hot and won a huge game on the road, and that was very well done. But that’s one half of one game from the number he’s played since coming to the Browns. Overall he has been, Meh. He frankly hasn’t played a lot of football since 2020.
The Browns are a pretty darn good team, but there’s a number of those out there. Does he possess the qualities and skills to compete with the elite teams and QB’s? He seems to also have a “ramp up” time of a number of weeks to “shake off the rust” that has become his normal, and that’s been nearly 100% self-inflicted. He sat out while healthy on his Texans team mates in 2021. Then in 2022 with the suspension over the massage thing, and last year with a significant injury. He’s given away many years of his prime.
Is he the leader that can take the Browns on a deep run in the playoffs? There’s really no evidence to say he can or will. What the Browns have paid handsomely for in advance is the hope that he will become something that he has never really been as a professional. That he has the ability to develop championship pedigree, and be that elite QB, in a league and era where that’s what you certainly must have to go where the Browns want to go. Does he have the “I won’t let us lose” gene?
Time will tell. In the meantime, with what we know and what we’ve seen, this is what we got.
GO BROWNS!
