LANDOVER, Md. — On the first week of October, the Browns' season ended before the Guardians' season.
This is it for 1-4. It feels like it's over long before the leaves change, before the bye week, before the pumpkins are carved, before the NBA season begins, and before the Guardians' baseball fate is decided.
Even by Browns standards, this is a pretty quick obituary.
But this is the resting place of a lousy team, buried 34-13 in a crappy stadium 12 miles from the nation's capital.
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There are fires everywhere and we don't have enough hoses. The defense is a mess. The offense is completely broken down, with no identity or concept of how to move the ball effectively in this new scheme with misfit personnel.
The Browns couldn't even properly line up on either side of the ball, which is a first-rate coaching felonies. they were flagged twice On the defensive end, there were too many players on the field on the same drive, and the offense had too many players in the huddle to go for it on fourth-and-goal from two. They had to eat a penalty and kick a field goal instead. That's coaching.
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In particular, they were unable to protect the right side of the offensive line. Dawand Jones has been a bad right tackle all year, and Wyatt Teller has picked a bad time in his schedule due to a knee injury.
Rookie Zach Ginter may end up being a very good guard in the NFL, but right now he's competing against some of the better defensive tackles in the NFC East like the Giants' Dexter Lawrence and the Commanders' Daron Payne. He's a rookie on offense and next week will be Jalen Carter of the Eagles.
All of that is important context. It's not just one player.
Still, something has to change. We can't continue like this for another three months, or no one will survive.
It's time. It's time to end the Deshaun Watson case. That's the only word to describe every part of this deal. The trade that brought him to Cleveland was a complete failure, and the contract was an albatross, a chokehold on a franchise that was running out of oxygen.
To be clear, Watson isn't the only problem with this team. But he is by no means the solution either. We now have enough evidence.
Watson had a big game against the Washington Commanders, completing 15 of 28 for 125 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked seven more times and the offense couldn't convert a third down until the fourth quarter.
Stefan Kusi is not happy with Watson.
Kudos to him for covering his mouth…handled it pretty well, all things considered pic.twitter.com/1lLZJYokIX
— Chase Daniel (@ChaseDaniel) October 6, 2024
He ranks 33rd in passing EPA (expected points added) per dropback in a league of 32 quarterbacks. He ranks 28th in passer rating. He has been sacked a league-leading 26 times, nine more than any other quarterback.
Even when he had time on Sunday, he left a clean pocket. Jerry Jeudy dropped a touchdown in the end zone, but by that point the game was already decided. I try to be realistic and reasonable at the same time.
Franchise quarterbacks are supposed to help offenses and teams overcome some of these obstacles.
Watson is making things worse.
He's not helping with this crime. He's not helping this football team.
Of course, Kevin Stefanski isn't ready to have this conversation.
Coach Stefanski said after the game, “We're not changing quarterbacks.''
Even if I wanted to, how could I not do it at this point? — Ownership would not allow it. The Haslams are still fetching water and rowing furiously on the SS Watson, desperate to get it to the ocean floor.
It's almost there.
When Joe Flacco brought the team back last year, Stefanski's offense showed what a legitimate quarterback could look like. Rather than use that as a blueprint to show Watson how great Stefanski's offense could be if executed correctly, they instead ran the offense and offensive coordinator. To appease the quarterback, he broke something that didn't need to be fixed.
The current offense is averaging 3.8 yards per play through five games, the worst of any NFL offense since 2018, according to Stathead. This offense is hovering around the Browns' 1999 expansion (3.65 yards). It's worse than bad. That's deplorable.
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It's not all Watson's fault, but it's Watson's fault that they're stuck running a system that doesn't suit players of any skill level, and Stefanski, one of whom clearly doesn't want to make the call. I feel pleasure. I wrote a few weeks ago about how the Browns have the slowest receivers in the league and struggle to create separation. That doesn't mean you can't win with them, but it obviously means you can't win if they play like this this.
In the series, Watson contracted an infection for which there was no known cure. They can't cut him. They can't trade him. They refused to bench him and allowed him to cash checks anonymously. So they will continue to drive him out there on Sunday until the rest of the body is dead.
The fact that this was all against Commanders rookie quarterback Jaden Daniels was a little ironic. Daniels plays exactly like the quarterback the Browns thought they would get in Watson. Daniels is poised and escapes pressure. He can roll out of the pocket and throw a dime down the field, like he did with that beautiful 66-yard strike to Terry McLaurin in the first quarter.
Daniels buoyed a hopeless team. He covered up the charges with a flawed defense. The coaches have already matched last year's win total, largely because their quarterbacks are playing at an elite level. That's what good people can do.
The Browns don't have good players. they have an infection. And the body slowly dies.
(Deshaun Watson photo: Timothy Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
