Another mind-boggling victory for the Browns with Deshaun Watson unable to finish
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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.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN
What if I told you Deshaun Watson wouldn’t make it through the first quarter in his first game back in a month and the Browns would score 39 points?
What if I told you the Gardner Minshew-led Indianapolis Colts would hit Jim Schwartz’s No. 1-ranked defense for 456 yards and five touchdowns and lose?
What if I told you the Browns would notch a season-high four takeaways, block a field goal, get four long-distance field goals of their own, and still need two Indianapolis defensive penalties, and a fourth-down, barely break-the-plane touchdown surge of one yard by Kareem Hunt at the end to eke out a 39-38 win over the Colts?
The Browns are 4-2 because all of those things happened.
And because P.J. Walker has been touched by an angel. More on that later.
There’s no other explanation for how the Browns overcame so much adversity – much of it self-inflicted – under the rarely-opened roof of Lucas Oil Stadium to win their second game in a row essentially without their franchise quarterback.
Watson started the game as expected, but was awful in four series – 1 of 5 for five yards, one interception, one near-interception – before leaving the game after he was hit on his problematic right shoulder while running left from pressure from Colts defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo. Watson left the game under his own power. He was spot-checked for a concussion (nothing there) and then was kept out of the game by coach Kevin Stefanski as a precaution to not worsen his rotator cuff strain.
“Deshaun took that big hit on his shoulder. I just did not want to put him out there. I wanted to protect our franchise quarterback. That was my decision,” Stefanski said.
Disconsolate and frustrated about not being able to finish after a four-week layoff, Watson disputed he started the game slowly. “It was only five passes,” he said. “If you want to go ahead and consider that a slow start, it’s four quarters. I don’t think anyone can take two or three seriously and make that a slow start, you got to play 60 minutes.”
Stefanski said Watson would start in Seattle if he is medically cleared. Asked if his strained rotator cuff was aggravated on the hit, Watson shrugged, “I’m not sure. I’m praying it wasn’t anything worse.”
Because the Browns were determined to get Watson back on the field, Walker received no practice reps after Wednesday, he confirmed. For much of his three quarters-plus in relief, he looked like he suffered from the lack of work.
After Myles Garrett had two strip-sacks and blocked a field goal, quarterback P.J. Walker said, '9-5 is a problem. He made big plays when big plays needed to be made.' (Cleveland Browns)
He was supported mightily, however, by:
* Defensive end Myles Garrett, who had the game of his life.
Garrett strip-sacked Minshew two times resulting in two Browns’ touchdowns – one on a 2-yard run by Hunt and the other when linebacker Tony Fields recovered the fumble in the end zone – and also blocked a 60-yard field-goal attempt by Matt Gay that turned into a Browns field goal when he freakishly leaped over his own line. So that’s 17 points Garrett directly accounted for.
* Kicker Dustin Hopkins, who outdid himself from the game before, which earned him AFC special teams player-of-the-week honors.
Hopkins made field goals of 44 yards (to give the Browns their first lead, 17-14), 54 yards (to go up, 27-21), 54 again (to pull ahead, 30-21), and 58 yards (to mark the fifth lead change of the game at 33-31). “Been a while since we’ve had someone so consistent [at kicker],” said Garrett. “He’s been immaculate.”
There were other outstanding performances, such as: Cornerback Denzel Ward with a recovery of the blocked field goal and an interception, running back Jerome Ford with a 69-yard touchdown run, and punter Corey Bojorquez with a 54.4-yard gross average on five punts and 46.8 net while field position loomed large with every change of possession.
And then there was Walker.
The journeyman signal-caller was fortunate to be on the field for 10 points without having completed a pass. When he had to throw, well, it wasn’t pretty. One interception was ruled an incompletion on replay review. At halftime, Walker was 6 of 11 for 70 yards and it was evident the Browns were going to have to win with defense and special teams.
In the third quarter, Walker assumed a 30-28 lead despite going 2 for 6 for 13 yards and one near-interception. Amari Cooper didn’t even catch his first pass until his fourth target with 12:07 to go in the game.
The teams traded field goals and then Minshew seemed to take control of the game with a short connection to receiver Michael Pittman, who bounced through tackle attempts by Greg Newsome and M.J. Emerson for a 75-yard catch-and-run touchdown and a 38-33 Colts lead. The large contingent of Browns fans in attendance groaned in unison.
“It’s football,” Stefanski observed of the tribulations that accounted for a 3-hour, 36-minute drama. “You got guys [going] in and out. Things don’t always go your way and you gotta fight. In the fourth quarter if you’re down, you gotta go on an 80-yard drive.”
So with 2:35 left, Walker was in just that position. First and 80 with the game on the line.
He made his biggest throw of the day on third-and-10 – a dime to Elijah Moore lofted over cornerback Tony Brown for 30 yards. Then came a 17-yard completion to Donovan Peoples-Jones and a 9-yarder to Cooper to the Colts’ 13. Stefanski used his final timeout with :45 to go.
On third-and-4, Walker was stampeded by the Colts’ pass rush and he lost the ball. But there was a flag – illegal contact on Colts DB Darrell Baker defending Cooper. A questionable call.
So it’s first-and-goal at the Colts’ 8. Walker throws for Peoples-Jones and the ball sails uncatchable out of the end zone. No problem. Flag on Baker again for pass interference.
First down from the 1: Walker throws incomplete for David Njoku breaking to the left corner in double coverage. Walker doesn’t see tight end Harrison Bryant all alone in the end zone begging for the ball.
Second down from the 1: Walker hurries a shovel pass for Njoku and the ball falls incomplete.
Third down from the 1: Walker throws incomplete for Moore.
“I didn’t want to run the ball before third down,” Stefanski said. “The guys were begging for a run. There was a method to the madness. We were always going to run on fourth down.”
So the game came down to fourth down from the 1 with 19 seconds left. Inserted as extra blockers were linemen James Hudson and Nick Harris. Hunt took the handoff and nudged his head forward far enough to break the plane of the goal line.Touchdown. Victory.
“I never felt really comfortable going into a game not starting a game,” Walker said. “So for me to go out there and have that mentality and just go play, that was big for me. I felt good, just being able to be out there with the guys and just feel comfortable. I think the guys – they were good with me being in there. That's what matters. The energy of the guys around me is going to help me bring up my level of play and help bring up my energy and my spirit around them as well.”
The way the Watson saga is going, Walker is going to need that energy going forward for the Browns to stay in the AFC North race. Watson, as we know, is day to day.
For now, the Browns are right in it, still in third at 4-2, keeping pace with victorious Baltimore and Pittsburgh. The division title is seemingly coming down to meetings against those bitter rivals on November 12 and 19.
