Cleveland Browns-Houston Texans all about Deshaun Watson’s return
HOUSTON – Deshaun Watson is the only story for the Browns as they head to Houston on Sunday to take on the 1-9-1 Texans. That’s because everything about this game is wrapped up within the story of the quarterback making his first regular-season start in 700 days.
The Browns, 4-7 this season, and Watson have waited for this day since the March 18 trade was made with the Texans to acquire the player the team believes is their long-term answer to solve the quarterback dilemma which has plagued the franchise since its rebirth in 1999. They backed that belief up with a five-year, $230-million fully-guaranteed contract.
“I think it’s important to remember Deshaun is 26 years old and is a high-level NFL quarterback and we’re planning on him being our quarterback for a long time,” owner Jimmy Haslam said of Watson on Aug. 18, the date which made Sunday one to circle on the calendar when the quarterback learned he would be suspended 11 games by the NFL for personal conduct policy violations.
Violations which are where the story of Watson, Houston and the Browns − both this season and beyond − takes off.
Watson departed Houston under a cloud − an entire storm front is more accurate − of allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct during massage appointments from more than two-dozen women during his time as the Texans quarterbacks. A total of 26 lawsuits — 23 of which have been settled, and one which was dropped shortly after being filed in March 2021 — were filed against Watson, all of them involving incidents that occurred in 2020 and early 2021.
Those allegations led to an NFL personal conduct policy investigation into Watson, which originally led to a six-game suspension from an independent disciplinary officer. However, after the league appealed, the player and the league settled on the 11-game suspension and a $5 million fine.
Which leads everything to Sunday’s afternoon inside NRG Stadium. Off the field, reports of several of Watson’s accusers being in attendance only adds to the overriding question about the reaction awaiting him in his return.
On the field, though, it’s the moment when the Browns start to see if the massive gamble of draft and public-relations capital they made in March will actually pay out. Or, for a team that has swung big and missed before over the last two-plus decades, will it just be the latest wish on a monkey’s paw?
“I think my biggest responsibility – like I said before is and just keep reiterating – is just doing what the scheme allows me to do, and that is executing the game plan, getting the ball to the playmakers’ hands and just try to win and try to put up points, more points than the other opponent,” Watson said Thursday. “If I continue to do that … We can’t focus on the next game, we can’t focus on two games or three games down the road. We have to worry about being 1-0 this week and focus on that.”
Watson didn’t address any non-football questions in his first public statements this week since the suspension. He didn’t come out and make any grandiose on-the-field claims, either.
After all, regardless of why Watson didn’t play, the fact of the matter is that Sunday will be his first regular-season NFL start since Jan. 3, 2021, when he led the Texans against the Tennessee Titans. At that time, he was considered one of the elite quarterbacks in the league, the kind you build your franchise around.
A lot has happened on and, especially, off the field since that day for Watson. Obviously, he’s 700 days older than he was that day now as he prepares for Sunday’s start.
Is Watson, at least once the rust is knocked off, that same quarterback who used to own NRG Stadium as his own?
“We will have to see Sunday honestly,” Watson said. “Like I said, it might take time or it might not take time. I just want to go out there, do what I want to do and make plays as much as I possibly can. Two years is definitely a long time, but at the same time, I have been doing this since I was six years old. Just like riding a bike, I am going to go out there, just find the pedals, get my transition going and then let everything come to me, don’t press it and don’t make anything bigger than what it really is.”