It’s safe to say that Deshaun Watson’s return to the Cleveland Browns starting lineup did not go the way he would have hoped, but he is keeping his head up and trying his best to move forward.
Watson was named the team’s starting quarterback just days after he had a rather hostile reaction to getting booed by the home fans during a preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills. His first start after the announcement left a lot to be desired, but Watson seems to be brushing off the criticism.
Watson’s Bad Game
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While Watson might have finished Sunday’s loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars with a relatively inoffensive stat line – 16-for-22 through the air for 205 yards with a touchdown and an interception – it doesn’t look quite as good in context.
For starters, 46 of Watson’s passing yards and his lone touchdown came on one throw late in the fourth quarter against the Jaguars’ backups. He also turned the ball over on the very first drive of the game and nearly turned it over on the next two, throwing a near-interception on the second and getting strip-sacked on the third.
For most of the game, the Cleveland offense felt out of sync and had very little rhythm, resulting in a blowout loss.
‘Bad plays are going to happen’
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Despite the lopsided loss, Watson kept things optimistic in his postgame press conference as he indicated that he did not think the interception impacted his confidence.
“No, I mean, bad plays are going to happen all the time,” he said in his press conference via [Pro Football Talk](https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/deshaun-watson-says-hell-keep-smiling-regardless-of-whos-against-me-or-whos-with-me). “You look all around the league. Everyone throws interceptions, everyone makes bad plays. You’ve got to give the defense credit. He made a good play on that. Even though I got knocked off my platform a little bit, I thought I got it over him. He reached up and grabbed it. So you’ve got to move on to the next play and try to move forward and try to put something positive on the next drive. And we weren’t able to do that.
“So it didn’t really bundle up my confidence. It’s just — we didn’t get back on track like we wanted to.”
After the lackluster showing, Watson is just looking ahead and trying to bounce back.
“Yeah, I mean just keep moving forward, keep stepping forward, keep smiling, regardless of who’s against me or who’s with me,” Watson said. “I think that’s more beneficial for the team in that locker room. I’ve had a lot of support in that locker room after the game telling me to keep my head up, keep pushing forward, keep working. They’re behind me, so that’s always positive to see and hear. Yeah, we just got to keep going.
“The adversity is going to be there. You’ve got to embrace it. That’s the only way — I thought it was going to be gone two years ago, but I guess not. So you just embrace it and keep pushing through until you break that wall through.”
After the game, new Browns coach Todd Monken was asked whether or not Watson will continue to be the team’s starter. While he didn’t have a clear answer to the question, he did defend his quarterback a bit.
“I’d rather just talk about today, because I haven’t had time to even look at the tape. . . . It wasn’t all him,” Monken said. “It really wasn’t all him. That’s unfair. Certainly could have called it better, certainly could have played better around him.”
We’ll have to see what the rest of the season holds for Watson.