Let’s just say we believed Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson earlier this week when he said he doesn’t hear any outside noise and isn’t on social media to soak in the external reaction to the Browns’ putrid offensive start. Watson’s staying off social media sounds like one of the few good ideas that have come out of this disjointed offensive operation over the past several weeks and months, so let’s just assume it’s true.
Then we’ll also assume Browns coach Kevin Stefanski was telling the truth when he was asked whether “there was even a thought or conversation about sitting” Watson this week when the 1-4 Browns play at the Philadelphia Eagles.
“No,” Stefanski said.
That leaves us to assume that, internally, the Browns think Watson and an offense that has produced three touchdowns in its last 11 quarters and 71 points in five games can turn things around. Stefanski said there are no plans for him to hand over the play-calling duties to coordinator Ken Dorsey, so the folks on the inside must think a breakthrough is closer than it appears.
Are the players still buying in? To the message? To the weekly plan and overall operation? Dorsey was asked that Thursday.
“I think the players are focused on one thing, and that’s being successful this week,” Dorsey said.
And what gives Dorsey confidence that Watson can still play winning football?
“We have a lot of faith in Deshaun,” Dorsey said. “For us, it’s about everybody. … Everybody’s got to be better. It takes all 11.”
The answers coming out of team headquarters don’t inspire much confidence, which is understandable when things are as bad as they’ve been. The Browns have yet to score 20 points and reach 300 yards in a game, and at 3.8 yards per play, they have the worst offense through five games of any team since 2018. Their average of 3.8 yards per play is a half-yard behind the juggernaut Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots, who are each averaging 4.3 yards per play ahead of Week 6.
The Browns have had alignment, substitution and blocking issues en route to Watson ranking 32nd in dropback success rate (33.3 percent) and 31st in EPA per dropback (-0.257). They’ve struggled to establish any kind of consistent run game. Watson has spent too much time holding the ball in the pocket, and when he has been accurate, his throws too often have been dropped. Pro Football Focus grades the Browns as having dropped 13 passes, the second most in the league. Watson has been sacked 26 times, eight more than any other quarterback across the league, and is completing just 60.2 percent of his passes.
Just 23.7 percent of Browns possessions have ended in a score, which is not only the league’s worst rate but also especially bad considering they scored points on their opening drive in each of their first four games. The door was open for the Browns to rally and steal victories in Week 3 versus the New York Giants and Week 4 versus the Las Vegas Raiders, but in eight fourth-quarter possessions in those games, the Browns got just one touchdown.
Something has to change. Some things, multiple, have to change.
“We look at everything every week, whether it’s scheme, whether it’s personnel, whether it’s how we call it,” Stefanski said. “There are things that we’ve looked at this week and things that we know we can do better. I’m comfortable with the amount of collaboration we have right now on the headset and how we operate. So that (play calling) won’t change.
“But I do want to emphasize that, No. 1, we’re constantly looking at things that we can do better. But No. 2, this is a collective effort from players and coaches to make sure that we are playing better on offense.”
There was a players-only meeting ahead of Week 5, and the Browns followed that by not converting a single third down in the first 58 minutes against the Washington Commanders. The third-down conversion rate for the season is 18.2. Only five teams are under 30 percent, and the Browns are the only team under 20 percent.
Watson has 852 passing yards. Because the NFL counts sack yardage as lost passing yards, the Browns have 714 passing yards at a net 3.5 yards per pass attempt. The only other team under 4 net yards per attempt is New England.
The Browns weren’t even competitive last week against Washington, which over the season’s first month was one of the league’s worst defenses overall and versus the pass. The Browns scored one touchdown in Week 2 when they beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, who also are bottom three in most key pass defensive metrics. So, how can they fix things immediately? What’s most important when changing not just the results but the entire tone of things?
“Just overall, just (me) leading this whole offense,” Watson said. “I think everything just has to mesh in place at the right time and things have to be in the same place. I feel like there’s been opportunities for us to be able to play winning football and hit the open guy. Maybe there was one or two things that were kind of off track that (we) didn’t capitalize, and we didn’t capitalize on that.
“And then there have been some times where, as a quarterback, (I) misread some things or was second-guessing some things. But at the same time, I think that’s part of just getting the reps and part of watching film and trying to find ways to get better each and every week. And each week is a new opportunity for us and for myself to be able to try to find out those things that I need to get better at to try to simplify the game as much as possible.”
We’ll simplify the state of things like this: Stefanski might not be considering a quarterback change right now, but soon he’ll have to. This new opportunity Sunday in Philadelphia probably has to be the last for the current state of the operation. The Browns return home next week to open AFC North play against the Cincinnati Bengals. Another poor performance this week would not only bring the team’s fourth straight loss but also force Stefanski to get whatever organizational clearance necessary to make significant changes.
Maybe he’d get that clearance. Maybe he wouldn’t. In either case, the Browns have to show they’re right in sticking with Watson and — at least for one week — push back the reality that they’re stuck with Watson and the just over $170 million in fully guaranteed salary-cap dollars to which the team is committed through 2026. And Watson needs help, too, as the Browns will have to be much better in the third game of their trip versus an Eagles team that was off last week and has seen what other defenses have done to the Browns, which generally has been blitzed a lot.
Per Pro Football Focus, the Browns have allowed 97 quarterback pressures, 10 more than the next-closest team, through five weeks. The opponent blitz rate has been 33.3 percent, with the high (or low) mark coming when the Giants sacked Watson eight times with a blitz rate of 53 percent.
This was an all-in season, with the Browns carrying the highest payroll in NFL history. But it’s become one of panic, frustration and big-picture worries coming to the forefront much sooner than anyone could have imagined. It’s neither ridiculous nor too early to say the Browns might have to make significant changes if a fix isn’t found soon and that there’s no way they could allow Watson to be booed by the home crowd next week if he doesn’t play much better.
Rare is the case when it’s good that an NFL team is playing on the road, but that could be the case here. Stefanski says the Browns don’t have to change quarterbacks or their offensive operation. Sunday, Stefanski and Watson might be facing their last chance to show the current structure is the right one.
(Top photo of Deshaun Watson: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
