Sunday’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was massive for the Cleveland Browns in more ways than one. They’ll head home for their Week 3 matchup with the Carolina Panthers at .500, but individually, this win meant more to quarterback Deshaun Watson than anybody as he might have saved his career with Sunday’s performance.
He completed 24 of his 30 pass attempts for 238 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers as he outperformed former Browns No. 1 pick Baker Mayfield, the man he replaced as this franchise’s starting QB. He showed a few glimpses of what he used to be during his Houston Texans days, but he’s likely still in for a negative reaction when he faces Browns fans for the first time in two years on Sunday.
Shannon Sharpe isn’t convinced Watson is back just yet. During a recent episode of Nightcap, Sharpe said that in order for this team to win, we need to see the Watson we saw in Tampa Bay much more often.
“In football terms, for a quarterback, [Deshaun Watson] is young. But at the end of the day, I don’t care how old or how young [you are], you got to play well. This is a prove-it league. You got to update your resume. Don’t nobody care what you did last week, last month, last year. What are you going to do this week? That’s what people want to know. That’s what your teammates want to know. That’s what your coaching staff want to know. That’s what the fans want to know. What are you going to do this week? I just know that in order for them to win, we need to see more of this Deshaun, what we saw in Tampa, as opposed to that old Deshaun. That guy in Jacksonville, they won’t win another game,” Sharpe said.
Watson will now square off against a Panthers defense that surrendered 59 points to Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears in Week 1, though they rebounded last week by holding the Atlanta Falcons to just three points. They terrorized Cooper Rush to the point where he was benched for Jack Strand, who proceeded to throw a pick-six on his first NFL pass attempt.
Cleveland’s schedule eases up slightly over the next five weeks or so, so it will be interesting to see if Watson can build on his performance. He isn’t out of the woods just yet, but it was encouraging progress to say the least. If he can repeat that performance with Browns fans most likely booing him, this team might have something.
You never want to get too excited about one good game. It’s not nearly enough to get Watson out of the doghouse with this fan base, but it was hopefully the start of a new chapter.
NEXT: There Is Growing Trade Talk About One Browns Veteran
