The Washington Commanders' defense had one of their best games of the young 2024 NFL season in Sunday's win over the Cleveland Browns: forcing a turnover, seven punts and allowing just 13 points in a twenty-point win.
And part of that reason was it was not a good day for Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, who completed just 15 of 28 attempts for 125 yards (4.5 per attempt) with one touchdown and a fumble for a 77.2 passer rating (out of 158.3) and an 8.5 QBR (out of 100).
"If I'm being honest, he looked like a player who's had stuff going on above the shoulders," Commanders defensive tackle Jon Allen said about Watson during his weekly appearance Tuesday with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.
"It's definitely a confidence thing that's going on," he continued. "I always tell people, it doesn't matter how great a player you are, if you don't have confidence, you're not a good player.
"I would say that is the biggest difference. I think physically – I mean, he's probably not as athletic as he was six, seven years ago, however long it was – but I think he still has that potential. I don't know, I don't know. Football is a weird game, man."
Week 5 marked Watson's third matchup with Allen and Washington. Most recently, Watson and the Browns knocked off the Commanders 24-10 on New Year's Day in 2024. In his first game, Houston scored a 23-21 victory in the game Alex Smith suffered a gruesome leg injury.
"Mentally, if you're not good up top like you're not gonna be confident, you're not gonna be playing free, you're gonna be thinking, you're gonna be reacting slower," Allen continued. "So I would say that's probably the biggest difference for him right now."
At one point in the game, Watson was hit toward the sideline by Mike Sainristil and a mini-brouhaha ensued in which Allen went over to make sure somebody was standing up for the young DB. The dust-up started after the quarterback took umbrage at the legal hit delivered.
"When it rains it pours, when things are going bad, you're frustrated, you're getting beat down in the media all day, it's frustrating, and that's all that was," Allen said. "You just saw frustrations boiled over. Their offense wasn't having success, it's a lot, man. It's a lot.
"You deal with a lot as an NFL quarterback."