close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

    • Browns can’t hide Deshaun Watson’s fading superpower behind poor pass-blocking performance — Jimmy Watkins
    news

    Browns can’t hide Deshaun Watson’s fading superpower behind poor pass-blocking performance — Jimmy Watkins

    Vaseline Posted on

    CLEVELAND, Ohio — Deshaun Watson is feeling the pressure and starts checking boxes. Ideally, he negates it pre-snap by auditioning into the appropriate pass protection. If not, he checks his hot read, football jargon for a quick throw designed to help a quarterback beat a blitz.

    Steps one and two not working?

    “After that, it’s just reaction,” Watson said Sunday. “You’ve got to make something happen after that, because they’ve got us.”

    This simple explanation used to be Watson’s superpower. Back in Houston or at Clemson, many a free-running blitzer missed the great quarterback escape artist. In fact, many of Watson’s best plays came under fire, in the clutches of a defender, and/or running and squirming out of trouble.

    During Sunday’s 33-17 loss to the Cowboys, however, Houdini disappeared into the clutches of Dallas’ pass rushers. They sacked him six times, hit him 17 more times. Watson completed 24 of 45 passes (53.3%) for 169 yards (3.8 per attempt), one touchdown and two interceptions (plus a fumble that the Browns recovered), leaving a bewildered fan base wondering (among other things):

    What happened to the passer who thrived under pressure?

    Coach Kevin Stefanski will tell you, as he told reporters, that the Browns let Watson down on Sunday. Stefanski underscored several points, including a question about how well Watson read the Dallas defense on Sunday, by adding, “We can’t let our quarterback get hit that often,” which is true. Sacks is bad. Teams that allow them in large numbers tend to lose.

    All-Pro guard Wyatt Teller “isn’t here to blame anybody,” he said, but Teller was willing to, say, assign responsibility in directions that pointed away from the quarterback. The Browns, for instance, committed seven offensive penalties that forced Cleveland into more obvious passing situations. Eliminate Watson’s team-high 44 rushing yards, and the offense ran for just 54 yards on 14 carries (3.9 per tote). Teller even bemoaned a pair of “coverage sacks,” implying that receivers sometimes had trouble getting open. And when it came time to discuss Watson’s role in Cleveland’s protection woes — Watson said earlier this week that he doesn’t like to blame his linemen — Teller blocked it.

    “… It just sucks when your job is to take care of a guy and you don’t,” Teller said. “It sucks. I have a ton of respect for him taking responsibility, but honestly, we’ve got to run the ball (better) when we get those fronts, when we get those Cover 2 (looks),” We take responsibility for that.

    “He takes responsibility for things he shouldn’t do. I respect that. But we have to get better.”

    OK, I’ll say it: Watson needs to be better, too. A lot better. Not only that, we have a long track record that suggests he used to be, even on days like Sunday. And as much as Watson’s supporting cast hurt him against the Cowboys, his performance should be cause for concern.

    But six bags is a lot! For most quarterbacks, yes. Tom Brady, making his FOX broadcast debut during Sunday’s game, played An six-sack game of 335 in 23 years. Sunday’s loss marked the 11th six-sack game of his career (including three with seven). In 54 games in Houston, Watson has had at least eight six-sacks, or about once every seven games. In 13 games in Cleveland, Watson has had three six-sacks, or about once every four games.

    Could it be that Watson is a tough quarterback to defend, given his unpredictable movement in the pocket and his top 10 longest average throwing time in four of his five seasons (both with Cleveland)?

    “I’ve been blocking him for a while. So I don’t know if it’s getting used to his style of play,” Teller said. “When you’re playing against a zone defense that can also pressure, you’ve got to execute. You’ve got to stay in front of the chains. Because a team like that can take five, six, seven guys and be tight enough (in coverage) to blow a tight throw. There’s a lot of things we could have done better.”

    OK, fine. But the numbers again suggest that Watson could have handled constant pressure much better than he did on Sunday. Those eight six-sack games Watson endured with the Texans? He won four of them. He completed 68 percent of his passes, averaged 272 total yards per game (237 passing), and threw 13 total touchdowns (nine passing) compared to five interceptions. The three in Cleveland? All losses with a 57 percent completion rate, 246 total yards (211 passing), four total touchdowns (all passing), and five interceptions.

    In other words, Deshaun Watson used to excuse a poor supporting cast for failing. Miss your block? Watson misses the rusher. Can’t get out in three seconds? Watson gives you five.

    Now, it appears the Browns are looking for reasons to validate an alarming Week 1 performance. Of course, context is important. Tackles Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wils Jr. missed Week 1 with injuries. Dallas features one of the league’s best pass rushers in Micah Parsons, who recorded a sack and nine pressures on Sunday. Cleveland’s penalties, run game and defensive shortcomings all painted Watson as a pass-happy corner.

    But you could just as easily argue that Watson put the defense in bad positions with turnovers and three-and-outs. You could argue that a run game can’t thrive if a defense isn’t afraid of the pass. And you could point out that a quarterback can’t get sacked six times (or hit 17 times) unless he holds on to the ball long enough or misreads a blitz tell (or two).

    The truth, as always, lies in the gray. Watson could have been more efficient. His blockers could have given him more time. In Stefanski’s words: “Everybody is. We all have those things. It’s never about one person.”

    No, but the Browns staked their future on one. They bet their franchise (and some of their salary cap space) on Watson still being successful in underwhelming situations and elevating the pieces around him. They believed he could check every box, or that even when he called the wrong protection or missed a hot read, he could make something happen.

    But on Sunday, the Cowboys got him. Watson either couldn’t wiggle free, or couldn’t make enough plays when he did. His new team lost badly because his old tricks weren’t working anymore, leaving a bewildered fan base wondering:

    Who is Houdini without magic?

    Vaseline
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like