BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Other than brief stops at his locker during media availability, Deshaun Watson remains MIA.
Watson did not practice again Thursday, and it is highly unlikely he will be able to play Sunday against the 5-0 49ers.
CBS Sports NFL insider Josina Anderson reported Thursday evening the team has already determined that Watson will not play.
Here’s our top Brownie Bites as Watson watch rolls on.
Up in the air – Do the Browns know if it will be Watson or P.J. Walker starting Sunday against the 49ers? “Oh, no, I don't think so,” offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said prior to practice. “That's the thing, it's up in the air, but we'll see. Obviously if Deshaun can make it, that'd be great, and if he can't, then P.J. will be just fine. So we're ready for either scenario.” Watson hasn’t seen the practice field since September 29 where he was extremely limited and hasn’t fully participated in a practice since September 22. “From what I'm hearing, he's better every day going in the right direction,” Van Pelt said of Watson’s bruised right rotator cuff. Van Pelt pushed back on a question about Watson’s toughness. “I would never, ever, ever doubt his toughness, never. I would never doubt his toughness,” Van Pelt said. “I've seen him play. I've seen him do some amazing things, fight through things. That is not the issue at all whatsoever. If I'm a running back and I can't run full speed, I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it. I might be cleared medically, but I can't operate with my strength, which is my legs as a runner, so seems as a thrower for him. I would never, ever, ever doubt his toughness. He's tough as nails.” Walker, who is on the practice squad and will be elevated for the game, was promoted to the No. 2 QB spot in front of rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson. “He throws the ball really well,” Van Pelt said of Walker. “I liked him coming out when I was in Green Bay. We were talking about our visit he had up to Green Bay earlier before the draft. I always thought he was a really good quarterback, so I followed him through my time of evaluating him in college and through his career. I think he does a nice job.”
Just go with it – Historically speaking, the Browns are used to a quarterback carousel. So is receiver Amari Cooper, which has helped him in his approach to dealing with the uncertainty during practice this week. “It's just part of the game,” Cooper said. “This is my ninth year. I played with multitude of different quarterbacks. I've been in situations similar to this before, so it's not anything that's surprising. You have to be very adaptable in these types of situations. As far as the challenge, I don't really see much of a challenge. I mean, obviously communicating with a new quarterback who I haven't played in a game with before, but it's just the same. I go out there, I create separation, I catch the ball, I do my job.”
Daunting task – San Francisco comes to town 5-0 and they’ve been barely challenged this season. Their closest game was a 30-23 win over the Rams in Week 2. “They're a great team right now,” safety Grant Delpit said. “Nobody's been able to stop them. They don't turn the ball over a lot. They get a lot of takeaways on defense. They have a unique scheme on offense and we run a similar defense to them that they run, so they've seen it before, so it's going to be a war. We're ready for it and we're going to prepare and get ready.” Offensively the 49ers are second in the league in scoring, averaging 33.4 points per game. They are third in rushing thanks to All-Pro back Christian McCaffrey, who is just as dangerous in the passing game. “He can even throw it, like Boobie Miles. He's all-around man,” linebacker Anthony Walker said. “He does everything very, very well. Ton of respect for him. Obviously played against him at Stanford. Really good back. So yeah, we got our hands full.” Tight ends have always been a problem for the Browns and after Mark Andrews caught a pair of touchdowns for Baltimore two weeks ago, George Kittle will receive plenty of attention, but not all of it. “Great blocker. I’ll say first off. Physical player, good route runner as well. Good run after catch guy,” cornerback Denzel Ward said. “Just a great player. He’s one of those top-tier tight ends they got in this league and we got to do a good job of challenging him come gameday.” The 49ers move players around with plenty of pre-snap motion, something the Browns have to be disciplined while following and adjusting to. “We’ve got to be fundamentally sound in everything that we do,” Walker said. “Again, guys line up everywhere. We can't let that distract us. They motion a lot, all that stuff. We can't let that distract us. We got to be on our Ps and Qs and we'll be fine.” Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz has had success defending Kyle Shanahan offenses over the years but San Francisco’s offensive versatility with their skill players presents a unique challenge. “They put a lot of, I won't say stress, but they make it where you just can't defend one thing,” Schwartz said. “We have some multipurpose players that can do a lot of things. It's going to be a great matchup. This is NFL football at its finest. This is an outstanding offense, a good defense. We'll be ready for it.”
Tough man – On Wednesday tight end David Njoku posted a photo on his Instagram account showing the significance of the burns he suffered to his face during an accident at home trying to light a fire pit on September 29. “I've been burnt like that before, not on my face, so I could just imagine the amount of the pain he felt,” Cooper said. “It was crazy. I was just like, how the heck did he do this? What was he trying to do? But he was able to play through it, which was amazing because just putting a helmet on I’m sure it was very painful. So imagine getting tackled. Your helmet always coming down. You're sweating. It was a lot. It was a lot he had to deal with. I commend him for that.” Njoku, who hasn’t practiced this week, ended up leading the Browns with six catches for 46 yards in the 28-3 loss to the Ravens. “Says a lot about him, showed a lot of toughness on his part,” Cooper said. “There are a lot of players who definitely would not have played with that happening to them less than 48 hours before the game and for good reason.”
Pass on Brotherly Shove – The Eagles ‘Brotherly Shove’ quarterback sneak play has drawn plenty of attention – and criticism. The NFL might be a copycat league, but it doesn’t look like the Browns will be adding it to their playbook. “We've discussed it, and I think analytics would tell you it's not that much more successful than a regular sneak,” Van Pelt said. “It's new, obviously, but as more data comes back on it, I'm not sure where the injuries lie on those types of sneaks, but I think we've been pretty effective here just sneaking it normally.” The Browns have turned to tight end Harrison Bryant to help them with their short yardage sneaks. “He's done some emergency stuff on Saturdays for us and thought that he gave us an opportunity to get a bigger body in there that could push the pile and take the snap,” Van Pelt said.
Injury report – DNP: QB Deshaun Watson (right shoulder), LG Joel Bitonio (knee), TE David Njoku (face, hand), WR Cedric Tillman (hip); LIMITED: DE Myles Garrett (foot), C Ethan Pocic (chest, knee, foot); FULL: RB Jerome Ford (knee)