Helped off the grass late Monday night at Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium, Deshaun Watson looked dazed and confused.
Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith had just plastered him, knocking both the ball and the Cleveland Browns’ second victory of the season from his grasp. As the Steelers and their 65,000-plus fans celebrated T.J. Watt’s 16-yard fumble return for a touchdown — a play that elevated Pittsburgh over Cleveland by the deciding score of 26-22 with 6:58 left to play — Watson searched for answers and tried in vain to regroup.
This was after, on the first play of the game, Highsmith returned a Watson interception 30 yards for a touchdown.
These weren’t the kind of plays the Browns expected from Watson when they traded for him from the Houston Texans in 2022, then awarded him a historic, fully guaranteed $230 million contract.
Watson, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, the 2020 NFL passing leader and a regular MVP candidate, is supposed to make the Browns contenders. The 2017 No. 12 pick is supposed to end decades of heartbreak, suffering and quarterback carousels.
But there he was Monday night, guilty of three crippling turnovers for only the second time as a pro, and some truly unclutch plays. The player who once drew lofty predictions he would become the Michael Jordan of the NFL looked more like Michael Scott in “The Office” warehouse pickup game.
For a second straight week, Watson failed to complete more than 56 percent of his passes. It marked the fifth time in Watson’s eight games with the Browns that he failed to complete better than 61 percent of his passes after posting only nine sub-60 percent passing games in 54 appearances for Houston. Watson’s passer ratings (67.3 in Week 1 and 70.3 in Week 2) also rank among the lowest of his career.
It’s only NFL Week 3 and at 1-1, the Browns aren’t on the verge of disaster. But losses to the Steelers always sting a little more for Cleveland and its faithful. And given the way Watson looked in the loss, the defeat felt much worse, the problems surrounding the quarterback far more grave. On top of that, the Browns just lost Nick Chubb, one of the best running backs in the league, for the season to a brutal knee injury.
If the Browns aren’t careful, the season could slip away quickly. And that’s why they need Watson to find himself again STAT.
There is no magic wand. No time machine for Watson to jump into and retrieve his mojo. He’s going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. To give himself and the Browns the best chance at success, Watson needs a mental recalibration.
He looked like a shell of himself during last season’s six-game cameo, one that came after a 700-day layoff following a spat with the Texans, sexual assault and misconduct allegations from two-dozen women, and then an 11-game suspension by the league for violating its personal-conduct policy.
He may not look like his old self out there. Those breathtaking, mind-blowing plays seem long gone. However, people familiar with Watson’s game say his problems are not physical. He still possesses the explosiveness and quickness necessary to break collapsing pockets and leave defenders dizzy in the backfield as he darts toward daylight. Watson still has the arm strength and touch required to carve up a defense.
These problems are all in his head, two NFL talent evaluators who have studied Watson say. They see it in the way he hesitates in the pocket: second-guessing whether he should pull the trigger or tuck and run, often deciding too late as the pocket collapses around him. They see it in the inconsistent rate at which Watson executes. He’s thinking too much, trying too hard.
The second half of last season was about shaking off rust and cobwebs. Now Watson finds himself shackled by the weight of expectations from a hungry fan base, and the weight of that $230 million fully guaranteed contract.
GO DEEPER
Browns desperately need Deshaun Watson to play like a franchise QB after Nick Chubb injury
It’s time for the quarterback to flush all of that, to strike all of the lofty expectations from his time with the Texans and at Clemson from memory. The road back to greatness, however, begins with simplicity.
Watson has to forget the contract. He must. He’ll never live up to it, so he must stop trying. It is what it is. The Browns could request a restructuring to help with cap space, but they’re not going to ask him to give money back.
He must forget the 2020 season, when he passed for 4,823 yards (301.4 per game). Such a feat was impressive, but it’s unrealistic to expect to throw for 300 yards every game.
Watson must take the following approach: Just win, plain and simple. If the QB’s final stat line is 100 yards passing and 85 yards rushing, so be it. Just find a way. Stop holding on to the ball so long. Stop trying to be perfect. If there’s no play to be made with your arms, use those legs. Or, throw it away and live to see another down. But if Watson does start running more, eventually the defense will start accounting for it and leave a hole downfield to capitalize on through the air.
Style points don’t matter. Final results do.
He can’t even let himself reflect on the fact his workload just got heavier because of Chubb’s absence. Other serviceable backs are still on the roster, as well as talented wide receivers and tight ends. The Browns still have a stout offensive line as well.
Watson and company opened the season against two formidable defenses in the Bengals and Steelers, but the road doesn’t get any easier in the next two weeks, when they host the Titans and then the Ravens. Cleveland drew the early bye in Week 5, but then comes another nightmare matchup: San Francisco in Week 6.
Cleveland’s coaches aren’t asking for Watson to be Superman. They simply want him to play within the system, and then when things break down, let his instincts take over. They know he’s capable of such. There have been enough flashes in the last eight games and in practices to affirm those beliefs.
If Watson can do this very thing, he’ll gradually take steps forward. He can’t go back to what he was in Houston. Evolution is natural. But if he can adapt a similar, less crippling mindset and focus squarely on winning the rep, the play, the practice, the game at hand, he will have the Browns on his back and venturing toward contention before he even realizes it.
(Photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
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