Kevin Stefanski had a very simple answer when pressed by reporters if Deshaun Watson will remain the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback after another dismal performance.
In the Browns’ 20-16 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Watson left much to be desired, completing 16-of-23 pass attempts for 168 yards and zero touchdowns. That is a far cry from the production Cleveland expected from the 29-year-old when the franchise gave him a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract.
With Cleveland now sitting at 1-5 on the year - its worst start since 2017 - many have been wondering whether Stefanski and the Browns would consider sitting Watson . However, Stefanski immediately shut down any notion of a change.
“Yes,” Stefanski answered bluntly when asked if the Browns will continue to start Watson. Despite Watson’s struggles yet again, the Browns head coach admitted there were good moments in the loss to the Eagles.
“Yeah, I thought there was some good moments,” he continued. “Obviously, we need to protect. We need to keep him clean when we can. That’s a good front and I thought the guys battled like crazy. Had some decent opportunities there but gotta find a way to be more explosive.”
When it was Watson’s turn to address his play to reporters, the signal caller had few answers to provide. When asked what he could change and how the offense could improve as a whole, the 29-year-old took a very long pause before providing an answer.
“Just keep working on them, I guess,” Watson sheepishly said. “Try to rep it in practices as much as possible. The biggest thing, again, each one of us got to lock in and we just have to reflect it.”
Additionally, Watson believed the Browns had to stop “shooting” themselves in the foot as Cleveland failed to capitalize on its opportunities. “Putting ourselves at third and long, when we do capitalize on third down, there’s a penalty,” he continued.
“Goal line, just being able to score and going back, especially last week, right there at the one or three or two and we’re going backwards. And that’s two weeks in a row where things could have went differently. Who knows but that’s tough. Super tough.”
Watson has been especially poor on dropbacks . Through Weeks 1-6, Watson lost -66.2 total EPA, which is the worst since at least 2000. The previous holder was Jamarcus Russell, who recorded -63.8.
The Browns are the first team in a decade to score under 20 points in each of their first six games and scored only one in its last 29 drives. So bad has Watson been that NFL legend Terry Bradshaw had a slip of the tongue, believing the Browns needed to “put down” Watson .
“Do you put Watson down now?” Bradshaw asked. “He has not played well since he has been in Cleveland, simply not played well.”
Want to watch more live sports? Peacock has your favorite sports, shows, and more all in one place. Peacock offers plans starting at $7.99 so you can stream live sports like NFL, Premier League, and Big Ten Football.
Local News
