CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Deshaun Watson looked more comfortable and was more productive in his second start for the Browns Sunday in Cincinnati.
“I thought he definitely made strides,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said Monday afternoon. “I think that is part of, like we have talked about, being away and then having that first game and getting that one out of the way. Then the second one, I did think you saw some improvements in decisions and improvements in technique, footwork and all of those type of things. Just making sure that all of those game reps he keeps adding on to what he is doing.”
Watson completed 26 of 42 passes for 276 yards with a touchdown, an interception and a rating of 79.1 in a 23-10 loss to the Bengals to drop Cleveland to 5-8 and essentially out of the playoff picture.
Stefanski wasn’t willing to go as far as to say Watson made a jump.
“I don’t know about ‘jump,’ just progression,” Stefanski said. “I want and he wants to continue to get better with more game reps. I think you saw at times he was really comfortable, was playing on time, let it rip and did a really nice job. Looking to build on that.”
The Bengals secondary made life difficult on Watson when it came to making plays down the field. At times Watson appeared to have receivers open but didn’t see them and on other occasions, nobody was open forcing Watson to tuck it and run.
Getting his field vision back is all part of the process for Watson.
“You are going to miss throws. You are going to miss a couple of reads,” Stefanski said. “That is every quarterback that is going to happen to. Yeah, I think getting more comfortable and then just playing on time, I think that is so much of this game is playing on time and listening to your feet. He did that a few times, and it was very, very well done yesterday.”
Four down territory – The Browns lead the NFL in going for it on fourth down and they are 18 of 33 on the season when going for it.
“I think for me, it is just trying to put our guys in position to make a play, stay on the field and convert potential threes into sevens,” Stefanski said. “It is a philosophy that I believe in. We are going to try to be aggressive, and I think our players understand that we are trying to be smart while being aggressive.”
The Browns converted three times out of six tries Sunday. It could be argued failures on fourth down are equivalent to turnovers, but Stefanski doesn’t see it that way.
“I think you can look at it in either way – I think it is a fair question – but you are also looking at opportunities for points in those situations,” Stefanski said.
Problematic penalties – The Browns were penalized nine times Sunday for 98 yards. Two other flags were thrown but one was declined and the other was an offsetting foul.
“Really, we had that string there with roughing the punter, then hands to the face which negated a sack and then DPI, all that came almost consecutively,” Stefanski said. “That is frustrating obviously. Are they physical mistakes? Yeah, they are physical. That is part of playing football and trying to play fast.”
Tony Fields II had the costliest flag after running into the punter. The roughing the kicker penalty gave the Bengals a first down. Then defensive tackle Isaiah Thomas was penalized for illegal hands to the face that wiped out a Jadeveon Clowney sack and Denzel Ward’s pass interference foul gave the Bengals 33 yards and moved them to the 30. Four plays later, the Bengals took a 7-0 lead.
“Tony [knows] that you can’t run into the punter. That was a mistake, but it is not for lack of effort,” Stefanski said. “We have to be better there. We can’t put ourselves in that position when we are about to get the ball. Those happen in football. We have to overcome them.”
Hot seat – Fans and media have been critical of Stefanski with the team continuing to fail to execute in key situations and play up to its capability, but Stefanski is tuning out the noise.
“I think all of that goes with the territory,” Stefanski said. “As you can imagine, I kind of keep the focus on what I can control, what is going on in our building and those type of things. Always looking for ways to improve. Always looking for ways to put our guys in position to succeed.
That is what I have to do.”
Diversity program – The NFL is hosting a ‘Front Office Accelerator program’ Tuesday and Wednesday at the December league meeting in Dallas.
Browns Assistant GM and VP of football operations Catherine Raiche and assistant GM & VP of player personnel Glenn Cook are scheduled to participate.
Injury report – Stefanski did not have an update on Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah’s foot injury and receiver Amari Cooper remains “day-to-day” with a hip injury.