CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – All eyes are on the $230 million man to fix whatever is broken with him and the Browns offense.
Here’s our top Brownie Bites from Thursday with the Titans looming.
Not clicking – Deshaun Watson hasn’t looked good the first two weeks of the season. In Week 1 it was the weather. In Monday’s 26-22 loss to the Steelers the excuses should have gone away, but Watson listed a multitude of issues on Thursday. “We had some injuries,” Watson began, “We had a rookie tackle that came in, so we had to change things up a little bit protection wise. Nick went out early on, so some young running backs got to come in protection wise. And then some of the receivers – Coop, he was a guy that came along during camp. He didn't get too many reps. Elijah 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 [like] 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.” Watson indicated that his mechanics are fine, something offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt also validated. “If I saw something I would've fixed it,” Van Pelt said. “So I don't see anything.” Watson noted that in his time with the Texans, he and the team historically started slow, which gives him confidence he’ll get rolling soon. “It’s just being on the same page with everybody else,” Watson said. “And that's just going with the protection wise to the coverage wise to what we're thinking about with Kevin. If it's going to be a four-down situation, if it's a third-down situation, if I need to take the shots, if I don't need to take the shots and things like that.” For all the criticism head coach Kevin Stefanski might get for play calls that’s not the problem according to receiver Amari Cooper. “It comes down to execution, execution of the plays,” Cooper said. “No matter what play we call, we just have to go out there and play our brand of football. We believe that when we are playing up to our standard, that it's not a team that we can go up against who can really match us.” Cooper also isn’t blaming the offensive woes on Watson either. “We all need to pick our game up,” Cooper said. “From my standpoint at wide receiver, I just view it like the more open I can get, the easier it'll be for Deshaun. So I like to put the pressure on myself that way.” Everyone seems to believe things are about to get on track. “We're close,” Van Pelt said. “We have a couple plays here or there. I think we will be better. Not 100% synced up right now and it's second game of the year. So we continue to grow together and I think that's where we got to stay positive and keep moving forward.”
Tuning it out – Social media and national talks shows haven’t been too kind to Watson this week as he continues to try to find himself with the Browns. “I see it. I hear it. It’s impossible not to see it unless I just turn off my phone completely or turn off the TV completely,” Watson said. “But it comes with the territory. It comes with the status and the standard that people hold me to. I don't look at it as anything bad. I don't look at it as anything personal. It's part of the game. It’s part of my level. And look at it as, hey, people hold me to the standard so I have to make sure I play to that standard And if I'm not, then I have to continue to find ways to get better. So I don't take it personal. I don't get in my feelings about it. I just continue to keep growing, keep learning and keep working each and every day.” Watson’s verified account has blocked several reporters on X that cover him and the team.
Many feet to fill shoes – Life goes on now without Nick Chubb as Jerome Ford steps in to make his first NFL start. Kareem Hunt is also back on the roster but don’t look for a chunk of the playbook to be scrapped or re-written because of the injury. “Obviously it's a huge loss for us as a team, not just the player, but the person in the leader in the locker room,” Van Pelt said. ”It's rough, but that's life in the NFL, obviously there's are huge shoes to fill and we just got to find a bunch of different feet to fill in.” Safety Grant Delpit opined about Chubb when he was asked about nearly coming away with an interception Monday night. “Let's talk about Nick Chubb, man,” Delpit said. “Talk about a dude that come to work every day, put his hard hat on, go to work. He's the model of Cleveland Brown, man, and [my] heart goes out to him and his family. That's the second time having a crazy injury like that. So he's a model teammate and best back in the league for I don't know how many years now, but he's one of the hardest workers I know and he's the most humble guy ever. So he'll be back and with vengeance next year I'm sure. So shout to Chubb man, the team's with you.” Left guard Joel Bitonio admitted it took some time for the locker room to process what happened to Chubb. “It was a brutal injury,” Bitonio said. “So it was one of those ones that you took Tuesday and really thought back and thought about it and just kind of sat down and you come in Wednesday and you realize we have a job to do now and he'd want us to do our job. So it was big of us to really try, and obviously, we're doing this stuff for Nick. We know he'd want us to go out there and work and practice and do all those things, so it's really easy to turn that page in that sense. But he's always in the back of your mind because the type of person he is.” Ford ran for 106 yards, including a 69-yard burst that set up a touchdown and he caught a touchdown pass as well. “He's got that ability to break away and run away from guys,” Van Pelt said. “He's got really good vision, exceptional feet. I think he will be part of those shoes. He'll at least go on one of those shoes. But I was really proud of the way he played, made some big plays for us in the pass game and the run game and is also really sharp and on top of protections on third down.” Pierre Strong, who had a 1-yard TD run, is also another option. “You can't replace 24, but I have a lot of faith in Ford and Pierre and we brought Kareem back,” Bitonio said. “Deshaun does a lot of running as well, so there's some aspects that we can add into it and do things… You see Kareem, he seems like he's come back in great shape and he's ready to run and work. So I think we have pieces that we can try and put together a puzzle that can look similar to what we did with Nick.”
All right – Cooper wasn’t going to let a groin injury suffered last Saturday keep him off the field Monday night. “Wasn’t looking forward to not playing,” Cooper said. “I just like playing. I just love the feeling of running routes, being able to catch the ball, help my team win.” Cooper led the Browns with seven catches for 90 yards against the Steelers. As for his status this week after being limited in practice Thursday with that as well as a shoulder injury, “I’m all right,” Cooper said.
Losing track – Donovan Peoples-Jones struggled tracking punts Monday night. Three were downed, two more were touchbacks and another went out of bounds. “It was a little bit uncharacteristic of him in the game,” special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone said. “I would say on the last one or the second to last one, he lost it in the lights. It kind of came down a little funky at the end and he did a good job of avoiding it and avoiding a muff. So obviously it was super close. That's why I think he retreated fast to get back to the ball. But yeah, 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.”
Injury report – DNP: CB Greg Newsome II (elbow), TE David Njoku (rest); LIMITED: WR Amari Cooper (groin, shoulder), OT James Hudson (ankle), DE Za’Darius Smith (ankle, thigh), LB Sione Takitaki (shoulder), LB Anthony Walker (pectoral), LT Jedrick Wills Jr. (shoulder); FULL: LG Joe Bitonio (rest), DE Myles Garrett (rest), Siaki Ika (foot), S Juan Thornhill (calf)