CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Deshaun Watson’s return from a shoulder injury didn’t last long and once again he is day-to-day after being forced out early from Sunday’s 39-38 win at Indianapolis.
Here’s our top Brownie Bites from another the fourth Victory Monday of the season.
Groundhog Day – Watson is back to being day-to-day with his shoulder injury after he got blasted by Colts defensive end Dayo Odeyingo in the first quarter. “All hits are tough, but yeah, I thought that was a big hit,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “I saw it up on the big screen when they showed the replay of it. Obviously hit on the shoulder, taking him in, checking for a concussion, so I just felt like the right thing for the team was to protect him.” Watson, who just returned after resting three weeks from a rotator cuff strain, hit the back of his head on the turf after throwing a deep ball to Elijah Moore that almost was intercepted but was overruled following a replay review. Watson cleared a concussion test and was held out of the remainder of the game as a precautionary measure. “I'm always going to be protective of our players, especially at the quarterback position,” Stefanski said. “Just felt like the right thing in that moment was to hold him out of that game.” Stefanski did not want to get into if putting Watson on injured reserve is being considered or the length of time the quarterback might need to recover this time. “I think it's more important just to focus on all the information the next couple of days and make determinations,” Stefanski said. The Browns are back to square one with Watson it seems and the offense is in limbo when it comes to his availability. “I know that injuries are tough. I don't throw the ball nor would I ever want to in the NFL, I like to play right guard, but it's difficult,” right guard Wyatt Teller said. “He's a leader. I mean, he's a great player, obviously he's QB 1, so we want him back, but he's day-to-day, again, I don't really pay attention to -- I'm not walking in and talking to [head trainer] Joe Sheehan, ‘hey, who's injured?’ We all got to handle it and be able to deal with it… Whoever that quarterback is, we just got to be able to execute and win. And if that's 4, that's great. And if it's 10, that's great. If it's 17, I'm excited. You know what I mean? It's just we got to be able to execute and play.” Watson completed one pass for five yards with an interception before departing and did not look comfortable, which raised the question if he should have started in the first place. “I think it's way, way, way too small of a sample size to make a consideration on that,” Stefanski said. “Deshaun's a captain of this football team. He's a leader of this football team. It's hard. I know he wants to be out there, but he continues to support his teammates. He leads this football team, so that will never change.”
Final 4 – Stefanski explained his thinking as to why he waited until fourth down to put backup interior lineman Nick Harris in front of Kareem Hunt to run in the game winning score from the 1. “Those four plays took years off my life. I'm sure everybody else [too],” Stefanski said. “We didn't necessarily want to wait until fourth down, but the tough part is if the clock is running after that first down play, we were in 23 personnel, so we had big players on the field, so it's harder to run plays out of that type of group.” After the pass interference penalty put the ball at the one, Walker’s pass on first down to David Njoku got knocked out of Njoku’s hands. On second down Walker went back to Njoku before looking for Elijah Moore on third down. “I knew we're on the one, I knew our fourth down call was going to score if we got to it quite honestly,” Stefanski said. “But I just didn't feel comfortable with the thought of a first down, a second down or a third down play that was going to not get in and then chew off valuable time. So felt confident in the plays we called and ultimately executed that last one.” Teller was among those begging for Stefanski to run once they got to the 1. “Obviously when we were going out there, we were like, let's run the ball on the first play and score a touchdown,” Teller said. “But if you look at it how much time we had, coach did it the exact right way. We have to take care of those couples 20 seconds. If we can take that off the clock, it gives them less time to make a play. So it was kind of one of those moments we were all like, what are we doing? Let's run the ball. And then all of a sudden we're like, 'Oh, okay. That's why they're paid the money,' and we're not a player coach. Because obviously he's playing chess while we're like, oh, it's just checkers. Just go right here and hit 'em and we score, right? But that being said, to run the ball on that fourth down, it shows that he had faith in the offensive line. It was a little closer than I'd like, but if you execute those plays, those are the ones you remember.”
Eyes on 95 – A day later, everyone is talking about Myles Garrett singlehandedly destroying the Colts Sunday and entering this year’s Defensive Player of the Year conversation. “We had grabbed some food after the game, I was like, that's why you get paid the big bucks,” cornerback Greg Newsome II said. “He's amazing. I said it before, he is the best defensive player in the league and he's going to go down as one of the greatest defensive players to ever play a game. So I'm so glad to have him on our team and a guy like that was able to make so many plays for us out there and bail us out a few times.” Garrett had two strip sacks – one recovered by linebacker Tony Fields for a touchdown – a batted pass and a blocked field goal that saw him jump out of his stance over the Colts line. “Myles is an absolute freak,” Teller said. “I mean, he has what, a 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, I mean, how low should I be? He goes, just don't pop up. You know what I mean? It's like 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 palmed that ball. I mean that's amazing. But 95's the real deal.”
Off day – The Browns defense allowed a season-high 456 yards, including multiple big plays in the secondary. “We just got to play better,” Newsome said. “I mean, that's just what it comes down to. We got to find a way to get guys on the ground, keep our eyes true, and just, we just got to overall play better in the back end for sure.” Gardner Minshew, who ran for a pair of touchdowns, hit Josh Downs for a 59-yard TD after Garrett jumped offsides giving Indianapolis a free play that tied the game at 7. “It wasn't a miscommunication,” Newsome said. “We all knew what we were in. It's just when we get stuff like that, we got to, as a secondary, we got to realize our guys up front are going to attack. We're going to have some offsides. We know that, I mean, those guys are trying to get out there and get to the quarterback. But as a secondary, we got to realize when those things do happen, we got to find a way to get deep because at the end of the day it's a free play. So that's definitely on us as a secondary.” Michael Pittman blew through multiple Browns defenders after catching a pass for a 75-yard touchdown. “We haven't given up that many explosive passes the whole entire season and we’ve given up, I think it might've been three or four that game,” Newsome said. “So that's definitely on us in the back end. We got to play better.”
Big leg – Kicker Dustin Hopkins has been a weapon for the Browns this season. He came to Cleveland with a 50% career make percentage beyond 50 but he’s been perfect through six games. “He's just kicking at a high level,” Stefanski said. “I mean the guy prepares well fits this team really fits in with this team really well. We have a lot of trust in him. We don't want to be kicking too often from 50 plus yards, but the guy just continues to come through for his football team.” Hopkins hit a pair of 54-yard field goals, a career-long 58-yarder plus a 44-yard kick Sunday at Indianapolis. Hopkins has made all seven from beyond 50 yards this season tying him with Phil Dawson for the most 50-plus yard makes in a season and he set an NFL record with a make from beyond 50 in a fifth consecutive game.
Decision time – P.J. Walker is out of practice squad game day elevations and the Browns have to sign him to the active 53 if he is to be available at Seattle this week. Stefanski would not say what their plan will be for Walker, who has been the No. 2 QB the last two weeks. “That’s an A.B. [Andrew Berry] question,” Stefanski said. “We've talked through all those [things] and we'll update you when appropriate.” Walker completed 15 of 32 passes for 178 yards with an interception. A defensive penalty wiped out a strip sack fumble recovery by the Colts in the final minute which gave the Browns new life. “You get measured in wins and losses,” Stefanski said. “Doing enough to help us win. We had to go on an 80-yard drive there at the end and we did, and he operated and did a nice job.”
Roster move – The Browns waived running back Deon Jackson. He was signed to the 53 from the practice squad Saturday. Likely a procedural move to put him back on the practice squad and it opens a roster spot that could be used on Walker.
