CLEVELAND, Ohio — Deshaun Watson sees pressure and starts checking boxes. Ideally, he negates it pre-snap by audibling into the right pass protection. If not, he checks down to his hot read, football jargon for a quick throw designed to help a quarterback beat a blitz.
If steps one and two don’t work?
“After that, it’s just reaction,” Watson said Sunday. “You got to make something happen after that, because they got us.”
This simple explanation used to serve as Watson’s superpower. Back in Houston or at Clemson, many a free-running blitzer swung and missed at the great quarterback escape artist. In fact, many of Watson’s best plays occurred under fire, in a defender’s grasp and/or running and squirming away from trouble.
During Sunday’s 33-17 loss to the Cowboys, however, Houdini disappeared in the grasp of Dallas pass-rushers. They sacked him six times, hit him 17 more. Watson completed 24 of 45 passes (53.3%) for 169 yards (3.8 per attempt), one touchdown and two interceptions (plus a fumble the Browns recovered), leaving a flabbergasted fanbase to wonder (among other things):
What happened to the passer who thrived under pressure?
Coach Kevin Stefanski will tell you, as he told reporters, that the Browns failed Watson on Sunday. Stefanski punctuated several points, including a question about how well Watson read Dallas’ defense Sunday, by adding, “We can’t let our quarterback get hit that many times,” which is true. Sacks are bad. Teams who allow them in bunches often lose.
All-Pro guard Wyatt Teller “isn’t here to blame nobody,” he said, but Teller was willing to, let’s say, assign responsibility in directions that point away from the quarterback. The Browns committed seven offensive penalties, for example, that forced Cleveland into more obvious passing situations. Eliminate Watson’s team-high 44 rushing yards, and the offense only ran for 54 yards on 14 carries (3.9 per tote). Teller even bemoaned a pair of “coverage sacks,” which implied that receivers struggled getting open at times. And when it came time to discuss Watson’s role in Cleveland’s protection issues — Watson said earlier this week that he doesn’t like to blame his linemen — Teller blocked it.
“… It just sucks when your job is to take care of a guy, and you’re not,” Teller said. “It sucks. I respect the hell out of him for taking responsibility, but honestly, up front, we have to run the ball (better) whenever we do get those fronts, whenever we do get those Cover 2 (looks),” We take responsibility for that.
“He takes responsibility for stuff that he shouldn’t. I respect that. But we need to be better.”
Fine, I’ll say it: Watson needs to be better, too. A lot better. Not only that, but we have a long track record that suggests he used to be, even on days like Sunday. And as much as Watson’s supporting cast hurt him against the Cowboys, his performance should still raise concern.
But six sacks is a lot! For most quarterbacks, yes. Tom Brady, who made his FOX broadcast debut during Sunday’s game played one six-sack game out of 335 over 23 years. Sunday’s loss marked the 11th six-sack game of his career (including three with seven). Over 54 games in Houston, Watson suffered at least six sacks eight times, or about once every seven games. Over 13 games in Cleveland, Watson has suffered six sacks three times, or about once every four games.
Could it be that Watson is a challenging quarterback to protect given that he moves unpredictably in the pocket and has ranked top 10 in longest average time to throw during four of his five seasons (and top five in both Cleveland seasons)?
“I’ve blocked for him for a little bit. So I don’t know if it’s getting used to his style of play,” Teller said. “Whenever you’re going against a zone defense that can pressure as well, you have to execute. You have to stay in front of the chains. Because a team like that can bring 5, 6, 7 guys and be close enough (in coverage) to where a tight throw is gonna get knocked down.” There’s a lot of things we could’ve done better.”
Ok, Fine. But the numbers once again suggest that Watson could’ve (and has) handled consistent pressure much better than he did Sunday. Those eight six-sack games Watson endured with the Texans? He won four. He completed 68% of his passes, averaged 272 total yards per game (237 passing) and scored 13 total touchdowns (nine passing) compared to five interceptions. The three in Cleveland? All losses that featured a 57% completion rate, 246 total yards (211 passing), four total touchdowns (all passing) and five interceptions.
Put another way, Deshaun Watson used to excuse a bad supporting cast from failure. Miss your block? Watson will miss the rusher. Can’t get open in three seconds? Watson will give you five.
Now it seems like the Browns are looking for reasons to validate an alarming Week 1 performance. Of course, context is important. Tackles Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wils Jr. missed Week 1 with injuries. Dallas employs one of the league’s best pass rushers in Micah Parsons, who recorded a sack and nine pressures on Sunday. Cleveland’s penalties, run game and defensive shortcomings all painted Watson into a pass-happy corner.
But one could just as easily argue that Watson put the defense in bad positions with turnovers and three-and-outs. You could say a run game can’t thrive if a defense isn’t scared of the pass. And you could point out that a quarterback can’t get sacked six times (or hit 17) unless he holds the ball long enough or misreads a blitz tell (or two).
The truth, as always, lies in the grey. Watson could’ve operated more efficiently. His blockers could’ve afforded him more time. In Stefanski’s words, “That’s everybody. We all own those things. It’s never about one person.”
No, but the Browns hinged their future on one. They bet their franchise (and a chunk of their cap space) that Watson could still succeed in subpar conditions and elevate the pieces around him. They believed he could check every box, or that even when he called the wrong protection or missed a hot read, he could make something happen.
But on Sunday, the Cowboys got him. Watson either couldn’t scramble/wiggle free, or he couldn’t make enough plays when he did. His new team lost ugly because his old tricks stopped working, leaving a flabbergasted fanbase to wonder:
Who is Houdini without the magic?
