Browns beat Texans in Deshaun Watson’s NFL return
HOUSTON – The focus was on Deshaun Watson as the Browns played Sunday at the Houston Texans. The quarterback was back off his 11-game suspension and playing against his former team.
It was the Browns’ defense and special teams, though, that were the secret to their second consecutive win, 27-14 over the one-win Texans.
Watson, playing for the first time since he was with the Texans on Jan. 3, 2021, finished 12-of-22 passing for 131 yards and a 53.4 rating. He threw an interception in the end zone as well.
Watson’s struggles playing for the first time in 700 days left the Browns with 304 net yards. Of those, 174 came on the ground.
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What salvaged the day for Cleveland was its ability to get its own hands on Houston turnovers. It also, finally, broke out in the punt return game.
The Browns came up with four takeaways in the game, two of which they took back for touchdowns. They also got a punt return for a score from Donovan Peoples-Jones to give them the lead.
That allowed them to win their second consecutive game and improve to 5-7 heading into a critical AFC North back-to-back stretch starting next Sunday in Cincinnati.
John Johnson III finally gets the Browns a takeaway
The Browns went the entire month of November without taking the ball away from an opponent. They changed that on the first play of December, although it took some help from replay review.
Texans quarterback Kyle Allen threw a deep out to tight end Teagan Quitoriano on the first play of the game. Quitoriano made a diving attempt for the ball, coming down with it, but it then ricocheted up into the air and into John Johnson III’s hand,
Johnson managed to chop both of his feet inbounds after making the interception, which was originally ruled as an incomplete pass before being overturned on a challenge by coach Kevin Stefanski. It was the first takeaway for the Browns since they had two — an interception and a fumble recovery — in an Oct. 31 win over Cincinnati.
The Browns, though, could do nothing with the takeaway, going three-and-out.
Browns give it away, Texans turn it into points
The Browns’ first nice gain of the day came on their second play of their second drive. The problem was that that nice gain — a 14-yard pass from Watson to Anthony Schwartz — turned into a 15-yard fumble return by Houston’s Desmond King II after Schwartz coughed the ball up.