Browns wild back-to-back wins not masking a crisis at quarterback
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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.
Second thoughts on Browns 39-38 victory over Indianapolis Colts …
1. It sounds counter-intuitive after two thrilling wins in a row to say that the Browns have a quarterback crisis, but it’s true. It would feel a lot more like a crisis if P.J. Walker had been intercepted in the end zone by San Francisco late in that game or Jake Moody didn’t miss a 41-yard field goal at the end, and if the Browns didn’t receive two favorable interference calls in the final seconds in Indianapolis. Walker must carry a lucky charm tucked somewhere in his uniform. Yes, 4-2 is 4-2, and it’s a whole lot better than 2-4. But if anyone thinks Walker can keep balancing this high-wire act week after week in close-fought games they are kidding themselves. So how long does the Deshaun Watson right shoulder drama continue? At least another week, to be sure.
2. Kevin Stefanski’s vague answers to obvious, direct questions merely add to suspicions that something remains amiss in this saga. Monday marked the start of the fifth week of an injury consistently described as “day to day.” Stefanski was non-committal about which quarterback would begin the work week with the first-team offense. “I think it’s more important just to focus on all the information the next couple of days and make determinations," Stefanski said. He was asked if the team would consider placing Watson on injured reserve (for a minimum of four weeks) to give the rotator cuff time to heal and avoid another situation of a quick hook like in Indianapolis. The coach answered, “Yeah, again, I think day to day. Always gather information, but he’s … listen, he’s getting better. He’s a competitive kid. He’s working hard.” Pressed on why he wouldn’t say whether IR is an option, Stefanski responded, “I wouldn’t say it for any player, really.”
Deshaun Watson enters the fifth week with a 'day to day' shoulder injury, leaving the team uncertain once again about who starts at quarterback this week.
3. The Browns would seem to have three options in dealing with the Watson injury at this point. Option One would be to proceed day to day, like last week, and give the bulk of practice reps to the presumed starter. It turned out last week that giving Watson all the reps on Thursday and Friday merely made for the worst possible result – Watson obviously wasn’t ready to play (before the re-injury he was 1 of 5 for 5 yards with one interception and one near-interception) and Walker’s lack of practice reps hurt his ability to be sharp (15 of 32 for 178 yards, one interception, one fumble, another negated by penalty). Option Two would be to give Watson this week off to heal the injury and get him ready for the back-to-back showdowns against Baltimore and Pittsburgh on November 12 and 19. Option Three would be to place Watson on IR, which would require adding a veteran quarterback to the mix in the middle of the season. I would choose Option Two. Prepare Walker all week to start in Seattle, which is a less-meaningful NFC tilt at a place the Browns historically have seldom won, and then have Watson back for the Arizona game to recapture his rhythm in time for the Baltimore and Pittsburgh games. Sure, those are officially only Games 9 and 10 on the Browns’ schedule. But they are also Games 4 and 5 of the six-game division schedule-within-the-schedule and will have the most impact on the AFC North title race.
4. Considering Watson’s ragged start to the game in Indianapolis and early exit, I asked Stefanski if it was a mistake to rush him back for the Colts. “I think I’ll always take all the information I have when making decisions on our players,” he said. “I think it’s way, way too small of a sample size to make a consideration on that.”
5. If Myles Garrett is successful in winning NFL defensive player-of-the-year honors this season, then the Colts game will be seen as the performance that turned the tide in his favor. Garrett’s two strip sacks of Gardner Minshew resulted in 14 points and his jaw-dropping leap over the Colts’ long snapper to block a 60-yard field goal try essentially made for a 6-point swing. Garrett’s big plays enabled the Browns to tie the score at 14-14, go ahead at 17-14 and retake the lead at 24-21. “He played as good as you can play in a football game,” Stefanski said. “He dominated the game.” Garrett said he has done that broad jump over center at Browns practice before and special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone heard about it and wrote it into the game plan when he noticed the Colts field-goal offensive line plays low to the ground for best leverage. “Myles is an absolute freak,” said guard Wyatt Teller. “I mean, he has 70-inch vertical, so his ability to jump over the guard, especially a guard that plays low in practice. I think when we were going over it, I was like, ‘How low should I be?’ He goes, ‘Just don’t pop up. You know what I mean? At the end of the day, just don’t pop up. You don’t have to be too low to the ground, because it’s got to be like a game-like situation.’ It was executed perfectly. He hit square, palm that ball. I mean, that’s amazing. But yeah, no, I mean, 95 is the real deal.”
6. Andrew Siciliano, who subbed for recuperating Browns play-by-play announcer Jim Donovan on the team’s radio broadcast of the game, wrote on X that the eight lead changes were the most in an NFL game in four years and was only the 15th game in the 104-year history of the NFL with eight or more lead changes. Teller related, “My brother, he said, gosh, that was a roller coaster. I said, yeah, it was a roller coaster for you. You were on the kitty ride. I was on the big ride. Trust me, we’re all going through it. We’re all dealing with emotions and stress and stuff like that. And that’s why this game isn’t easy. You can have someone who has all the tangibles, but that intangible kind of keeping your hand to the plow and focusing on everything that’s going on, but also at the same time keeping that focus on execution and focus on the play—the snap count. The fans are going crazy. You can’t hear anything. You just got to be able to lock in and execute, play at a high level.”
