Deshaun Watson admits he’s not ‘on the same page’ with everyone on offense
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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 …
Deshaun Watson said the biggest issue he’s having through two games “is being on the same page with everybody else.”
After all those throwing sessions in Houston and South Florida and Puerto Rico? After all those bonding sessions at The Greenbriar Resort and in Philadelphia?
After seven weeks of training camp, four preseason games and now two regular-season games?
Being on the same page is still a problem?
“Well … we had some injuries, so we had a rookie tackle [Dawand Jones] that came in, so we got to change up a little bit of the protection-wise,” Watson said. Nick [Chubb] went out early on, some young running backs that got to come in protection-wise, and then some of the receivers. [Amari Cooper] Coop, he was a guy that came on, came along during camp. He didn’t get too much, too many reps. Elijah [Moore] is new to the system with live bullets, so we didn’t get too many live bullets in real games.
“You can’t sit here and say practice is going to be exactly the games. It’s two different speeds and two different things that’s adjustable. Practice is usually, this is what we’re working on, this is what we’re trying to get better. But in the game, you got to be able to adjust on the fly. So all those things match up together, but we’re coming along, and sooner or later it’s going to click.”
Of course, everyone who questioned the lack of game reps by the No. 1 offense in preseason saw this coming. So, should they have gotten more than five series in four preseason games?
“I can sit here and say that it’s a lot, but I’m not going to sit up here and tell you guys that’s the reason why,” he said. “It’s just part of the game and how the game flows. So I’m not going to use preseason as an excuse to sit up here and say we got to continue to find our rhythm and things like that. I’m not going to make no excuses for myself or anybody. We got to make sure we start fast and play better and get those completions and that timing and rhythm. We got to be able to adjust. So that’s the biggest thing. Keep going and keep grinding and keep working hard for it.”
For the record, coordinator Alex Van Pelt doesn’t seem to agree with Watson’s opinion that players aren’t on the same page.
“I don’t know if that’s the case, and obviously if that’s how he feels about that, but I think we’re doing good things,” Van Pelt said. “We’re close. A couple plays here or there, I think we’ll better. Not 100 percent synced up right now and it’s second game of the year, so we’ll continue to grow, grow together.
“I think that’s where we’ve got to stay positive and keep moving forward. I mean, we’re doing a lot of good things offensively, and we’re not clicking 100 percent yet, so I feel good about the direction we’re heading, and I see it all coming together as we move forward. It’s like any other season. Very rarely, teams start off and get hot and stay hot the whole year. So it’s finding your way through and just continue to grow together.”
Watson’s throwing accuracy in his eight games with the Browns (six last year) is under 60 percent. He was a 67.8 percent passer in four seasons with the Houston Texans. Against the Steelers, Watson threw at least six passes out of bounds.
“If I saw something [wrong], I would have fixed it. So I don’t see anything,” Van Pelt said. “We’re just getting into our groove right now. I’m not concerned about it.”
The Browns running back drills just aren't the same without Nick Chubb on hand. Jerome Ford (34) has gone from fourth in line to first in one year. (TheLandOnDemand)
Another coach
The ESPN broadcast of the game in Pittsburgh captured Watson with eyes closed, in deep reflection, sitting on the bench in the early pre-game next to a man that was identified as Watson’s visualization coach.
Turns out that Dr. Mayur Pandya, a sports psychologist, has been working with the Browns for four years. He’s part of the support group the organization formed for Watson as a result of the agreement he reached with the NFL after violations of the league personal conduct policy. That agreement called for Watson to receive counseling.
“We’ve been talking since I got traded here last year,” Watson said. “He’s a visual coach, a player coach, a therapist for just the mind, the mental state of just not just the game but life in general, just being able to try to focus, narrow your focus as much as possible.
“So we’ve been working and trying different things to make sure that I’m staying locked in on blocking out the good, the bad, just staying focused on my tasks and my job. And it’s been helping. And he’s been a great help for, not just me but everyone in this organization, in this locker room. So he’s been good to be able to have that. I’ve never had that before, so I’m still learning and growing from him.”
Watson said it was the second or third time he’s met with Pandya before a game.
“If it’s going to help me, I definitely want to continue doing [it],” he said.
Thank you, Titans
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz opened his weekly press availability by thanking the Tennessee Titans for bringing him back into the NFL the previous two years after Schwartz had to step away due to a severe thyroid issue.
Schwartz was living in Nashville, TN, in the same neighborhood as Titans coach Mike Vrabel. They had never worked together.
“Mike Vrabel called me, it seemed like every week for about four months, and he never once talked about football,” Schwartz said. “He just always just asked me how I was doing and everything else. I started feeling a little bit better, got my vision back and a bunch of different things. "And he invited me to start just, like, one day a week, and one day turned into two and turned into three, and Vrabes never once made it anything about other than do what you feel that you can do. And pretty soon, about six months later, I was pretty much back to normal and pretty much working normal hours.”
On Sunday, Vrabel’s team will go up against the No. 1 defense in the NFL coordinated by Schwartz.
“I figured the best way I can honor them is to play really good defense on Sunday,” Schwartz said wryly.
Brownie bits
The Browns threw a glitch into the weekly statistical package distributed by the NFL. Under defense inside the 20, aka red zone, only 31 teams are listed. The Browns aren’t. They haven’t seen a single snap from inside their 30-yard line, much less the 20. “Obviously that’s not going to continue, but I like where it’s at right now. 0 percent or 100 percent, whatever it is,” Schwartz said. “That probably goes into [our performance on] third down [league-leading 13.3 percent]. We’ve made it hard to sustain drives so far. That makes it hard to get into the red zone.” …
That 55-yard field goal by Dustin Hopkins in Pittsburgh? Ventrone said it would have been good from 65. “That's probably the best kick I've seen as a coach,” Ventrone said …
Donovan Peoples-Jones said he simply misjudged the Pittsburgh punt that went over his head and was downed at the Browns’ 6-yard line in the fourth quarter. It was a crucial mistake because five plays later Alex Highsmith strip-sacked Watson and T.J. Watt scooped the ball and ran it in for the winning points. “He lost it in the lights,” Ventrone said. “It kind of came down a little funky at the end and he did a good job of avoiding it and avoiding a muff. I think that he'll just continue to work and rep and get as many catches as he can. So I'm confident in him that he'll make it right.” …Nick Chubb appeared in the facility on crutches and received support from all who saw him. Watson said when the quarterbacks re-watched the tape of the game, they skipped over the play on which Chubb’s knee was injured. “We didn’t even want to watch it,” he said …
With Jerome Ford graduating to RB1, his role as primary kick returner will be assumed first by RB3 Pierre Strong with others getting reps, Ventrone said.
Cornerback Greg Newsome (elbow) was the only injured player who did not practice. Tight end David Njoku was rested.
