Browns' offensive miscues once again lead to lack of touchdowns, win against Eagles

PHILADELPHIA — It seemed like it may be happening again for Deshaun Watson .

The Browns quarterback's final two quarters of the 2023 season in Baltimore against the Ravens was, from a completion percentage, perfection. That had been good enough for Cleveland to rally for a Week 10 win that proved to be a defining moment in their playoff season, even if Watson's shoulder injury in the game ended his season.

Sunday in Philadelphia against the Eagles , Watson was putting together another half like that one. He completed 11 of his 12 second-half passes for 122 yards, a stark contrast from the 5 of 11 for 46 yards he was in the first half.

The problem for Watson and the Browns was that it wasn't quite perfection. He was a completion shy of that in the second half, while Cleveland came up a score shy of a comeback in a 20-16 loss to the Eagles .

"I think especially first half, I missed out on some opportunities," Watson said. "The biggest thing was just a couple of deep shots. The timing was a little bit off, just miscommunication with a couple of receivers on what I'm seeing and what they're seeing. And I think that I take responsibility of that because they showed a little bit differently. … But overall I think second half was much better. Defense, our special teams did a great job of getting us 10-10 and were were putting together a good drive and that kind of stalled. I mean we lost at the end of the day."

The major reason why the Browns lost? The same reasons why they've lost the other games in their now-four-game losing streak.

For all of Watson's success in the second half completing passes, what he didn't do was complete one in the end zone. In fact, the Browns offense once again couldn't find the end zone, with the only touchdown of the day for Cleveland coming courtesy of Rodney McLeod return of Myles Garrett's Superman-like field goal block late in the first half.

The Browns had eight possessions against the Eagles, four of which ended up in Philadelphia territory. Three of those ended in Dustin Hopkins field goals and the fourth ended with a missed Hopkins field goal.

The offense has now scored just one touchdown — Watson's pass to tight end Jordan Akins near the end of last week's 34-13 loss at the Washington Commanders — in its last 29 possessions. That dates back to the last time the Browns started the game with an opening-drive score, in Week 4 at the Las Vegas Raiders.

"We can't hurt ourselves," Pro Bowl left guard Joel Bitonio said. "We got to score. As an (offensive) line, we got to protect on third downs. I mean any downs really, but we can't let Deshaun get sacked. We get in the red zone, we can't hurt ourselves. There's too many times where we get down there and we falter and we got to find a way to get touchdowns and not field goals."

Watson did get sacked another five times, while taking another 10 hits. However, the biggest hits the Browns offense took were the self-inflicted ones due to penalties in critical spots.

Twice in the fourth quarter the Browns were inside the Eagles 25. Both times, penalties sabotaged opportunities to put the ball in the end zone.

"I mean at the end of the day we knew we had an opportunity to win," said wide receiver Amari Cooper, who was flagged for a facemask penalty that moved the ball back from the Eagles 21 to the 36 on the Browns' final drive. "I think somebody said something about stats in the second half, 11 of 13 maybe. I'm not sure about that. But like I said before, we had momentum. He had momentum. We just didn't take advantage of it in the best way possible."

The first time came in the midst of a drive which started late in the third quarter, yet with 11 minutes remaining, had reached the Philadelphia 24, where it was third-and-6. Watson took off on an 11-yard scramble that would've put the ball at the Eagles 13, only the play was negated by center Michael Dunn — moved from right guard to center due to Nick Harris' injury on the third offensive play — being called for holding.

The Browns managed to get 49-yard Dustin Hopkins field goal to tie the game at 13-13. The next time, they would also get a Hopkins field goal, only this one wouldn't tie the score.

That drive got to the Philadelphia 3, where right guard Zak Zinter was flagged for a false start on third-and-goal. After an incompletion, fourth-and-goal from the Eagles 8 turned into fourth-and-goal from the Eagles 11, which turned into a Hopkins field goal to make it 20-16 Philadelphia with 3:54 remaining.

"I mean it's tough," Watson said. "Yeah, it’s very frustrating. That was our chance, especially all day we've been working there. There've been penalties and stops and just things like that. And the one time the opportunity to top the game to try to put ourselves in position to go win. We didn't do it. And yeah, it's tough. It's definitely frustrating."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns' offensive miscues once again lead to lack of touchdowns, win against Eagles