Deshaun Watson had arguably his worst game of the season in the Cleveland Browns’ Week 5 loss to the New York Jets. While the quarterback was awful in Week 1 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, that was against a much better team and was his first appearance in almost two years.
The Jets were a much more beatable opponent, but the Browns could not get the job done, suffering a disappointing 17-12 loss. Watson was in line to post his fourth straight game-winning scoring drive, but things fell apart in the final six minutes.
Now, heading into the Browns’ Week 6 game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, insider Tony Grossi revealed his expectations for Watson, saying his legs could be more important than his arm.
“I think they’re gonna rely on his legs a lot more than his arm. Look at the Baltimore secondary. There are four No. 1 draft picks. There’s not an easy guy to pick on. It’ll take Watson to find the right guys, and I don’t think he did that very well last week,” Grossi said.
What are your expectations for Deshaun Watson against the Ravens? pic.twitter.com/S4jSEoafCR
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) October 16, 2026
It might be difficult to find any strategy that works against Baltimore, which will be without its own dual-threat quarterback, Lamar Jackson, who has been ruled out with an ankle injury. The Ravens haven’t allowed more than 27 yards rushing to any QB this season, and have held two of the five to fewer than 10 yards.
With the four first-round picks in the secondary Grossi mentioned — cornerbacks Nate Wiggins and Marlon Humphrey, and safeties Kyle Hamilton and Malaki Sparks — Baltimore allows 223.6 yards passing per game, with five touchdowns allowed and three interceptions. Cleveland is averaging just 179.6 passing yards per game, and it just gave up eight sacks to the Jets.
Facing that relentless pass rush, Watson completed just 15 of 33 attempts for 155 yards. His 24.0 QBR was his worst of the season by far, much lower than the 45.1 he posted in the season-opening 34-10 loss at Jacksonville.
The 31-year-old has made a surprising impact running the ball, especially when you consider that he was sidelined all of last season by two Achilles tendon tears. He has 167 yards rushing on 37 attempts, an average of 4.5 yards per carry on designed plays and scrambles.
Now, he will try to combine both aspects of his game facing the Ravens, with first place in the division on the line.
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