Deshaun Watson goes on ‘learning curve’ over six games with Browns
PITTSBURGH — The six-game trial run for Deshaun Watson as Browns quarterback came to an end in Sunday’s 28-14 loss at the Pittsburgh Steelers. Although “trial run” may not be accurate in the way to describe the last month-plus.
The final six games of the Browns’ 7-10 season were all about getting Watson back in the groove of being an NFL quarterback. They were all about making sure that, once next season gets underway, the growing pains of the stretch run of this season are a springboard into something much bigger.
That the final six games were anything but a breeze may have been a shock to some. That group doesn’t include Watson himself.
“I mean, I knew it was going to be challenging,” Watson said. “I knew I wasn’t going to walk in and just be the MVP of the NFL. I got a lot of work to put in. I put in a lot of work, and I got a long way to go. So I wasn’t naive to the point of where I’m just walking in and, hey, we was just going to be go to the playoffs and go undefeated and do all these things.
“No, I knew there was going to be some challenges. I knew there was going to be a learning curve. I knew there was going to be some ups and some downs and some motions and things like that.”
That would accurately describe Watson’s final start of the season against the Steelers. It was, at times, both brilliant and baffling.
Watson seemed to pick right back up from where he left off after the second half of last Sunday’s win at Washington when he went 6-of-10 passing for 146 yards and three touchdowns. Against Pittsburgh, he completed 11 of his 17 first-half passes for 137 yards with a touchdown to David Njoku, but also an interception that opened the door for the Steelers to take a 10-7 lead right before the half.
The second half, Watson was 8-of-12 passing for 93 yards and a touchdown. However, the problem wasn’t just that he threw another interception that set up another Pittsburgh score, but that he also was sacked six times in the half for a loss of 52 yards.
“I don’t ever go into a situation or a game expecting any type of pressure because I trust in my guys up front,” said Watson, who finished 19-of-29 passing for 230 yards with the two scores and two picks. “So, like I said, you gotta give them credit for the games and the stunts and things that they were doing to try to create pressure and you gotta give the secondary credit for just doing their best to try to hold their disguise as much as they can and try to disrupt the passing game.”
The passing game the Browns hope eventually develops next season is one in which Watson finds a comfort level not just with Amari Cooper or Njoku or Donovan Peoples-Jones, but well down the list of targets. He had at least two targets to seven different players against the Steelers, including 10 combined targets to running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.
Still, the passing game will grow to be its most prolific when Watson and Cooper on consistently together on the same page. A week earlier against the Commanders, the two hooked up three times for 105 yards and two touchdowns.
On Sunday in Pittsburgh, Cooper had just three targets, with two catches for 51 yards. His 36-yard reception in the fourth quarter help set up Watson’s second touchdown pass, a 2-yarder to Chubb to pull the Browns within 20-14 with 10:11 remaining.
“Yeah, it almost felt like during the course of Deshaun’s six weeks or so, it almost felt like the progression that we would normally have in camp and preseason and then, boom, now we’re ready for the season now,” said Cooper, whose 1,160 receiving yards this season is the second highest of his career. “That’s what it feels like now. It feels like, OK, now we’re ready for the season. So, sometimes it’s just the way the cookie [crumbles]. All we can do is look forward now.”
The problem is that the next time the Browns play a game won’t come for another eight months. That’s eight months before there’s any chance to see if Watson and his receivers built off the work of the the last six games.
There will be opportunities for the quarterback and his receivers to get together on their own. There will be the voluntary offseason program and, of course, the start of training camp in July.