LANDOVER, Md. — Deshaun Watson raised some eyebrows and sent social media ablaze in the third quarter of Sunday’s 34-13 loss to the Commanders when he walked off the field to the dismay of Kevin Stefanski and then snapped off his chinstrap in frustration, took off his helmet and shook his head.
The internet rushed to judgement, surmising that Watson quit on his team with the Browns trailing 24-3 and blowing a first and goal at the 2.
But as it turns out, Watson walked off dejectedly on that fourth and goal from 8 with 12:15 left in the third because the Browns had too many men in the huddle. Watson could be seen counting heads and so could Amari Cooper before Watson walked to the sidelines and informed a frustrated Kevin Stefanski why he was there.
The Browns took the 5-yard delay of game, and Dustin Hopkins kicked a 31 field goal to narrow the gap to 24-6.
“We had the wrong amount of people in the huddle and at that point we were just going to kick the field goal,” Stefanski said after the game.
“Too many men in a huddle,” said Watson. “That was it.”
Cooper concurred.
“It was a miscommunication,” he said.
But the extra body was just one of many mistakes on that ill-fated drive after Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah forced Terry McLaurin to fumble on the first play of the second half, and Martin Emerson Jr. to start the Browns at the Commanders 30. Two completions to Cooper gave the Browns a first and goal at the 2, with a great chance to make it a game.
Instead, they self-destructed. D’Onta Foreman ran it in for a TD on first down, but it was called back by a false start against rookie Zak Zinter.
“I just flinched a little bit,” Zinter said.
Watson (15 of 28, 125 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs, one strip-sack, 77.2 rating) was sacked in the next play for a 1-yard loss, his fourth of seven sacks on the afternoon. The on second and goal from the 8, Jerry Jeudy dropped a pass in the end zone that hit him in the hands.
“Honestly, didn’t even see the Jerry (drop),” Watson said. “I honestly thought I misthrew it. I didn’t know he dropped it, so I honestly thought that was my fault. But the plays are there. We’ve just got to finish them. That’s the biggest thing.”
It reminiscent of last week’s mistake-fill 20-16 loss to the Raiders, when Cooper dropped a deep ball over the middle, and then had an 82-yard catch and run for a TD wipe out by a holding call against backup center Nick Harris.
“We had penalties and some miscommunications, which are completely on me,” Stefanski said. “I’ll take responsibility for all of that. That looks like losing football to me. I’ll get it fixed.”
Stefanski, who replaced Watson with Jameis Winston with 2:28 left in the game, declared afterward that “we’re not changing quarterbacks. We need to play better. I need to coach better, and that’s really what it is.”
Watson said the players, who have had players-only meetings, “need to sit down and with the coaching staff and figure” out what they’re great at.
He said they need to figure out how to better utilize their weapons.
“It’s only one football, but we have a lot of great guys that can make plays and trying to figure that out,” he said. “Njoku came back this week, so we’re trying to introduce him back in offense, introduce things like that, while trying to figure out what type of offense and identity we want to be at. The time is clicking.”
