CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns fear that quarterback Deshaun Watson suffered a ruptured right Achilles late in the first half of Sunday’s 21-14 loss to the Bengals and his season is likely over.
“Let’s get the test to confirm, but that’s what it looks like,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said.
Meanwhile the reaction from fans as Watson was carted off the field angered Browns players.
“That was bulls***,” cornerback Greg Newsome II said. “Yeah, I noticed it right away. I mean, no matter what you feel about a player performance wise or not, you don't boo a guy that's down that can't get up by himself. So yeah, that was bulls***. So any fan that said anything is bulls***. That simple. You don't do that.”
Newsome was not alone in his anger towards fans, whom players felt were celebrating Watson's injury.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall,” defensive end Myles Garrett said. “Could be a season altering, career altering injury. Man is not perfect; he doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones from my glass house. But we need to do better, we need to do better on the football field, and we need to do better as fans for having some empathy for a man who’s doing the best he can and did the best he can up to this point. We have to better.”
Watson went down with 1:22 remaining in the half as he attempted to move forward in the pocket and turn the drop back into a potential keeper.
Replays showed Watson’s lower right calf twitch and he attempted to step forward, a sign of an Achilles rupture.
“Anytime someone gets hurt in this league, home or away, people don't cheer for that,” left guard Joel Bitonio said. “So it was a little bit disheartening to see the fans cheering when a guy gets hurt and he puts his body in line every week. He goes out there every time he plays. Their guy got hurt late in the game. You're not cheering for that. So it's one of those things that I think the nature of the sport, it's kind of an unwritten rule to, you don't cheer those injuries, so you didn't want to see that reaction.”
Watson remained kneeling on the ground and bent over for a few minutes while trainers tended to him before he was helped to the cart and driven off the field to a smattering of cheers and audible boos.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city, every single day,” quarterback Jameis Winston, who had to finish the game because backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson suffered a finger injury on his throwing hand, said. “Regardless of your perception, regardless of what you thought should happen with him, he [was] committed every single day that I’ve been here to be the best that he can be for this team.
“I do not want the treatment that Deshaun Watson has received from these passionate fans. I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans. But Deshaun was treated badly, and now he has to overcome another obstacle.”
The entire Browns team came on the field and the Bengals took a knee as a cart came on to take Watson from the field with the Browns trailing Cincinnati 7-0.
Watson, who has struggled this season to help the Browns offense get on track, received a loud round of boos from fans as he was introduced pregame.
“The thing that really hurt us the most is you know seeing the fans boo him as the cart came out, and then cheer you know,” offensive tackle Dawand Jones said. “It was something that really stayed with us as players you know. Your own fans you know, you expect them to have your back through whatever we go through. To boo your starting quarterback it just, really really hurts.”
Dorian Thompson-Robinson was elevated to the backup quarterback role Sunday in place of veteran Jameis Winston, who was inactive and the No. 3 emergency quarterback.
Prior to departing with the injury Watson was 15 of 17 for 128 yards and a rating of 98.0.
This is the second major injury suffered by Watson since being acquired from the Texans in March 2022. Watson missed the remaining eight games of the 2023 season after suffering a broken glenoid bone in his right throwing shoulder which required surgery.
Stefanski understood the anger and disappointment his players had towards the fans.
“I don’t think it’s ever okay to cheer when someone’s injured,” Stefanski said. “I’m sure it’s not every person in that building doing that, but that’s disappointing.”