Sunday was another rough outing for the Cleveland Browns offense, but there won’t be any changes made at the quarterback position.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters Monday that he won’t be benching Deshaun Watson in favor of Jameis Winston following a 20-16 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I think it’s just important that we continue to do everything we can to play good, sound football,” Stefanski said. “I think there were moments obviously of that yesterday. I think Deshaun gives us the best chance to win, continues to give us the best chance to win, and we need to play really good offensive football at his position and really at every position to be successful on Sunday.”
Stefanski added that his decision to keep Watson in the starting lineup has no influence outside his office.
“I don’t get caught up in narratives,” he said. “We have a good dialogue with myself, (general manager) Andrew (Berry), ownership about all things that have to do with this team. They have been nothing but supportive, and any decision when it comes to football is my decision.”
Cleveland once again failed to eclipse the 20-point mark on Sunday, but that point total would figure to be even lower if it wasn’t for the Browns special teams returning a blocked field goal for a touchdown. It was the sixth straight instance the one-win Browns were unable to surpass 20 points in a game, and they’re the only team in the league not do so this season.
Those appalling numbers relate to those of Watson, who finished 16-of-23 passing for 168 yards in the loss. He has had fewer than 200 yards passing in all six games thus far and is the only QB in the league to have started all games in 2024 and not throw for over 200 yards. According to NFL Research, Sunday was Watson’s first game without a TD in which he didn’t leave early due to injury since his debut with the club in Week 13, 2022.
Watson didn’t make any catastrophic mistakes in the loss to Philly but operated a stagnant offense that couldn’t create splash plays and continued to struggle on third down (3 of 12). In fact, it wasn’t until the third quarter that Watson converted the Browns’ first third down since the first quarter of Week 4’s loss to the Raiders, per NFL Research.
Despite it all, the Browns defense played well enough to keep give Watson and Co. a chance to steal a win late. Down seven, Cleveland got into the red zone for the first time all afternoon late in the fourth quarter, getting up to the 3-yard line, but a pair of false start penalties put a touchdown out of reach and the Browns settled for a field goal only to never get a possession the rest of the way.
“We’re going through it,” Stefanski said. “You’re 1-5. You can’t hide from that. You don’t love that feeling, but all we can do is get one this week. That’s all we can do.”
This wasn’t the first time this season Stefanski has been faced with questions surrounding Watson’s job, but those might persist if there’s no improvement, especially with an abled veteran like Winston waiting on the sideline. Watson, who’s playing on a fully guaranteed $230 million contract and coming off a serious shoulder injury from last season, will be given ample time to figure it out.
The Browns return to Cleveland on Sunday to face the Cincinnati Bengals (2-4) after a winless three-game road stretch.
Please enable Javascript to view this content
