CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Expectations for the Browns in 2022 plummeted off a cliff when Deshaun Watson finally settled his disciplinary issues with the NFL.
Immediately after the announcement Watson would be out 11 games, the projected win total for them in 2022 dropped from 9.5 to 8.5 among many sportsbooks. Their Super Bowl odds all but evaporated into thin air.
The national and local media aren’t expecting the Browns to do much either without Watson.
“We like it,” linebacker Anthony Walker said. “The men in this locker room, in this building right here, we understand what we have to do, and we can’t worry about the outside noise. All we can do is worry about what we can control, and that’s us getting better each day and going 1-0.”
With Jacoby Brissett called upon to fill in for Watson, no one expects that this will be the year the Browns finally win a division. They haven’t done that since winning the AFC Central way back in 1989.
Their playoff prospects are thought to seem slim, at best, in a loaded AFC.
“I haven’t heard anything, so I don’t really care to be honest,” Brissett said.
In fact, many are asking if the Browns can avoid another last place finish in the highly competitive North where they’ve resided in the basement 13 times since the division was formed in 2002, but they’ve avoided it and finished third in each of the last four seasons.
“That's how it always is since I've been here,” running back Nick Chubb said. “We've always been counted out, so not really new, we're going to go out there, we're going to compete, we worked hard this offseason and this camp so we're going to see what happens.”
Brissett is 14-23-0 as a starter with his best season coming in 2019 that saw him win 7 of 15 games and complete 61% of his passes for 2,942 yards with 18 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He threw for 3,098 yards with 13 TDs and 7 picks in 15 starts during the 2017 season but went 4-11.
While the oddsmakers might not be big Brissett fans, his teammates are.
Brissett is admired and beloved within the locker room. It could be argued he might be the most popular player on the team.
“He's been amazing,” Chubb said. “He's awesome, he's a great vet, he knows pretty much any questions we have and he's a great leader and he directs us around like he's been here for a long time and I'm excited to play with him.”
With inexperience at receiver behind four-time Pro Bowler Amari Cooper, the lack of faith from the pundits appears justified, despite possessing one of the best – if not the best – running back combo in football.
Within the locker room, players have their blinders and earmuffs on.
“Great teams don't worry about the outside noise. I was always taught that,” Walker said. “When you worry about the outside noise you start to get distractions and everything like that. We need to worry about what’s in here and with everybody writing you off all you can do is turn inside, internally, and that’s what we have to do.”
In today’s world of endless sports coverage on a multitude of platforms, including social media, tuning out the noise can’t be easy.
“We have cell phones, we have social media, so we all see social media, text message, whatever it is,” Walker said. “We are going to get the noise, but it’s how you respond to the noise. And again, you can sit there and I can argue with people all day on Twitter or I could just ignore them and I’m choosing to do the latter.”