Deshaun Watson admits he shouldn’t have tried to play in Indianapolis
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Takeaways from Browns practice and interviews …
On Thursday, the breakthrough in the six-week Deshaun Watson saga was an admission by the sore-shouldered quarterback.
“I told the guys that I was ready Indianapolis week. That was my decision. And look, I wasn’t ready. So I tried to jump the gun a little bit, and it didn’t go our way,” Watson said.
And so, another twist in the tale.
Another day of examining Deshaun Watson's 'zip' on the ball at practice. The quarterback still won't say if he'll play Sunday. (TheLandOnDemand)
After the Indianapolis game on October 22, coach Kevin Stefanski insisted he pulled Watson from the game not because of performance or because they’d made a mistake in starting him, but to save him from further injuring his strained rotator cuff. In fact, Watson, even took offense when it was pointed out he got off to a slow start – 1 for 5 for five yards, 1 interception and another erased by penalty.
So now he admits he wasn’t ready to play in that game. I suppose that’s progress.
Now what about this Sunday against the 1-7 Arizona Cardinals? Will he play? Will he wait another week for the Baltimore-Pittsburgh gauntlet?
“I’m not even sure,” he said. “Just following the medical protocols, and we’ll just go from there.”
Watson threw extensively for the second day in a row, this time in a practice in the cold and wind outdoors. There is a divergence of opinion about how he looked. My take is he could execute a screen pass-oriented and dump-off game plan, but you’d be concerned about throwing any sideline outs. He still looks like a major league flame-thrower fiddling with off-speed pitches. His fastball is 10-12 mph off.
Asked what he’s looking for out of Watson to be comfortable playing him, coordinator Alex Van Pelt said, “I think for a quarterback, you just want to be able to make all the throws. If there’s anything that you still can’t do … as long as you feel confident that you can make the throws down the field, short, accurately, that’s where we want to be.”
In his 10-minute press conference in the locker room, Watson made several references to needing to be "on the same page” in evaluating the injury forward.
“I feel good,” Watson said. “The process, like I said before, has been going up. We’re right on track where we need to be for what I feel like. So just communicating with all the doctors and all the coaching staff and make sure we’re doing all the steps that we need to make sure that whenever that time is, I step on the field ready to play.”
Defensive dilemma
The Browns have bemoaned their slumping run defense all week. In the last three games, they’ve allowed 390 rushing yards for a 4.76 average and five touchdowns. Two of the touchdowns were on RPO runs by Colts quarterback Gardner Minshew, and now the Browns might be facing running QB Kyler Murray in his 2023 debut after ACL surgery in January.
Without their No. 1 back James Conner, the Cardinals have generated their running game through a combination of undrafted free agent back Emari Demercado, designed runs by their quarterback, and sweeps and ends-around from 5-7 wide receiver Rondale Moore.
Murray would be a key to triggering the running game, but his status is uncertain. If he doesn’t play, the Cardinals plan to give fifth-round rookie QB Clayton Tune his first NFL start. Tune is a strapping, big-armed passer (6-3 and 220 pounds) who didn’t run much in his preseason action.
All of which has made for a challenging week of preparation for defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
“We’re going to take it all into consideration,” Schwartz said. “I think that we have eight games of their offense on film and with [former starting QB Josh] Dobbs running, you know they ran a lot of quarterback runs. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s anything different with Kyler Murray if he plays, and I would expect, you know if the rookie plays, for them to stay with what they’ve done.
“I don’t imagine that they would change entire game plan just for one guy. I think there was a reason that they wanted to fit Dobbs into that role. So, we’re going to look at the scheme. We’re going to take into account players’ individual strengths and weaknesses as we put our scheme together, but we’ll be ready whatever they decide to do.”
Big guy on the mend
In the morning, Browns PR informed media of “Watson news coming soon.” It turned out to be the signing of offensive tackle Leroy Watson off the San Francisco practice squad.
Coupled with some ominous signs the day before, it appeared the Browns were digging in for a couple games without right tackle Dawand Jones, who suffered a shoulder injury in Seattle. Jones did not practice on Wednesday, but he did make it to the practice field on Thursday on a limited basis.
Van Pelt reported prior to practice, “He’s dealing with something now, but I think he feels okay right at this point. We’ll see again day to day with him, but I think you should have a chance [of seeing him play on Sunday].”
Brownie bits
Special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone said that, for now, Elija Moore would assume punt return duties after Donovan Peoples-Jones was traded to Detroit. Ventrone said a lackluster return game has been his biggest disappointment so far ...
The Browns have been outscored in the first quarter, 52-23. (Pittsburgh scored a defensive TD on a pick 6 by Alex Highsmith, which would reduce the deficit to 45-23.) Schwartz was asked about his defense starting slowly. “Yeah, we need to start better,” he said. “We need to start faster and we need to stop the run. In the games that we’ve stopped the run, we played really well. When we control the run game, good things happen for us on defense, and that’s our focus.” …
Is the strain of uncertainty about Watson’s game-to-game status starting to be felt among offensive players? Receiver Amari Cooper said, “It’s a challenge, just like any other challenge that’s presented to us. Obviously, we got to adapt to any situation that’s presented to us. But, yeah, it’s hard. I mean, we know that 4 is our guy. We know that he’s a playmaker and all those things, so we would love to have him out there every chance that we get, but unfortunately, the cookie doesn’t always crumble that way. Injuries are part of the game and just waiting on him to get healthy.” …
Cornerback Greg Newsome (groin) looks like a no-go on Sunday. The slot cornerback role could be shared by Mike Ford and rookie Cameron Mitchell.
