Where do Browns go next following QB Deshaun Watson's injury?
glenoid. Yeah, right. It’s a very frustrating and arduous situation. Now, the Cleveland Browns find themselves in because they’re a really good team and they were winning and their defense is fantastic. But without Deshaun Watson, their offense looks very different. Peter, where do you go with this situation? On hearing the news about Deshaun Watson? So not to be the Twitter doctor. I’m not a doctor. Come on, baby, Just play one on. Good morning, WebMD. Here we go. Glenoid is the socket part of like the ball and socket of your shoulder joint. So if you’ve got your
shoulder blade, it’s the ball and the socket. And that thing’s fractured. So you can’t throw a football like it’s done. So what you would have if you had Deshaun Watson out there would be a guy who is basically just being mobile and doing little pitching. The fact he went 14 of 14 in the second half after fracture during his glenoid is pretty remarkable and yet now you look at the season this was one of the best stories in sports that the Browns were putting things together and they were suddenly six and three and they had
beaten the Ravens and you’re giving the ball to PJ Walker and you’re saying, PJ, do what you’ve done in your entire career. My friend. Like this is what
58 yards two weeks ago. They they picked off Lamar Jackson and had a key pick six and a key spot. This defense is going to carry the day. But you talk about a team that’s fighting it. They lose, obviously. Chubb and we got the update on him earlier yesterday and now you lose your star quarterback who, by the way, injury or not, still has the most guaranteed money in the history of the sport and is going to be getting another year’s worth on that contract and they’re going to hope that after this injury, he’s ready
to come back and be the Deshaun Watson of old. We saw a glimmer of it Sunday, but you know, the NFL, the injury gods are cruel. And in this case, they’ve been very cruel to the Browns, no doubt about it. And they just had their biggest win of the season, 14 point comeback in the fourth quarter against the Ravens. And you just feel for the Browns and for the team right now because to your point, they were turning the corner and then even just everything Deshaun Watson, they hadn’t played football in a while. It comes
over to the team last year still Rusty now this year has been up and down. He’s been out of the lineup with an injury. There’s times where even in the first quarter of that game this past Sunday, where it was not pretty at all, then kind of gets into a groove and you’re kind of still waiting like, uh oh, like I think Deshaun Watson is back. I think we have a shot. And now for him to go down with an injury and you mentioned Nick Chubb, Jack Conklin or starting tackle, he’s out done for the
year. So for them, injuries to key positions have just been crucial and has killed them so far this season. And you’re excited to see what PJ Walker can do. But it’s like at the same time, as we look across the league and we see backup quarterback after backup quarterback being forced into play for the Cleveland Browns, you look at their division, you’re like, All right, do we believe PJ Walker can take us over the hump to be the Steelers or Ravens or Bengals football team? You just look at the amount of football that Deshaun Watson
has played the last few years and now dealing with this injury, it’s just tough to see. All right. When is he going to or if he can get back to that Deshaun Watson we saw in Houston , we will rally behind PJ Walker when quarterbacks get hurt, we go to the Dick Vermeil soundbite and we try to Peter, you’re better at this than me. I try not to insult the viewers by saying, I think this could be okay and you’re more positive than me. I’m always like, This sucks. You guys might be screwed. I don’t.
I don’t like to compare injuries. They’re all terrible. I think this is the biggest injury of the year. I think it’s the most significant injury of the year. And I think it is the one with the most ripple effects. The Rogers thing, of course, week one, the prayer of the Rogers Jets, we’ll never know what happened. This was working. They had turned the corner. I said it on Monday after they beat the Ravens and he has his biggest win and his best half as a brown with that defense if he’s Deshaun it’s like Shaq learning
to make free throws like how are we going to stop this guy. It’s happy learning how to putt any old Deshaun magic is, Oh my God, the Browns could win the Super Bowl with this defense. And those players now, it’s like it’s just it sucks. So we already started saying, Well, the AFC, we’re going to have four playoff teams. Listen, there’s going to be a fall off this. I don’t think they’re going to light the world on fire. I don’t think PJ Walker is going to be some sensation. I hope he is. I’m probably not
wrong about this, though, as we talked about it, this is a guy who wasn’t even in training camp with the Browns. He spent the whole training camp with the Bears shows up with the Browns. It hasn’t been great. So listen, if you want to go silver lining for something terrible like this, you look at other teams. If the Browns fall off this injury is why I said it’s the most important one. This is going to impact teams like the Bills, like the text ins, these teams that are like, we want a wild card this year.
Colts. The Colts. The AFC North is grabbing those wild cards, guys. We know it’s going to be at least one, probably two, maybe three. If the Browns fall off. And I hope I’m wrong, but I think they will. Other teams around the league on the right comp, you know, the Raiders make a run with the Antonio the Colts you mentioned the bills are 500 I’m sorry Cleveland this is really bad It really sucks. And the timing couldn’t be worse. And I’m picturing that old jersey in the storefront with all those names on it. I’m sorry,
but you in Detroit were having these dream seasons. I feel like you’ve waited 50 years for. And yours just got a punch to the solar plexus. I hate it. The timing sucks. I feel bad for you. But the other teams, maybe they’ll have a shot now. So this injury that Deshaun suffered, he’s. I hate him. It’s frustrating. Injuries. It’s so frustrating to Peter’s point, very different than we oftentimes hear surgery is, you know, maybe a player could wait on a surgery, on a shoulder injury because it’s separated. And you oftentimes hear the labrum tear. Like
that’s a very common one. You can play through that. You actually don’t even need the surgery eventually. But the fact that this is a fracture , the on the throwing side is wildly significant. It’s late in the season. And if you consider the fact that they have to play the Steelers this weekend, the Browns do and they have an interesting road schedule coming up but it looked right for the Browns. It truly did. Peter And we’re going to take a look at the Browns schedule. Peter, when you look at Deshaun Watson and what he was
able to do, are there other aspects within this offense that you feel like you know what, they are going to be okay to Kyle’s point, like, can you get them? Can you get yourself there right now? Come on. No I hate to be pessimistic. They are such a they are a defensively led team. Last week I compared them to the 2000 Ravens and that was hyperbole. But basically I was saying just defensively led team. Last week I compared them to the 2000 Ravens and that was hyperbole. But basically I was saying just don’t hurt us.
And then they come out and they score 33 points. I know seven of those came on an interception return. So really 26, we’ll take it 26 they’ll win. All we needed was 20 points from the Browns and they’re going to be in every game. I don’t know if PJ Walker can get them there. The shame of it is they had Josh Dobbs for years in that building, and then before that they’ve had other backups like, you know, like Case Keenum was there. And then Jacoby Brissett last year Jacoby Brissett like they had guys and you
mentioned the 2000 Ravens so quote I’ll never forget is when Kyle Boller came in for the Ravens and he just he couldn’t play Ray Lewis had this quote he’s like get us ten points and don’t give them any points and we’ll win. Get us ten and no pick sixes or scoop and scores and will win. That’s what we’re going to be with Cleveland. I mean, you’ve been on teams like this, like it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be very tough. And to your point, the way the rules are, the way the league is,
and I know there hasn’t been a ton of scoring this year, but it’s so hard to hold somebody to ten points, nine points a game, so to say the Cleveland’s the Browns are going to go in every single game and just hold people to nine, we just got to score ten. Hey PJ Walker was out there playing quarterback when they played the Indianapolis Colts and it was an all out shootout. As we watch and there were fireworks and both teams were scoring. And to your point, I don’t know if they can get there. You’re finding
a way to get it to Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore, Ford and Hunt have ran good in the backfield. Joe, who’s playing well? The joke, who’s playing well, They have the weapons around it. Just when the defense rolls in, you look at the plays Deshaun Watson made on Sunday outside the pocket, creating and doing things. It just changes the whole dynamic. When you don’t feel like you have a guy at that. I’ve been I’ve been tracking this because these AFC teams that are going to be reaching for it are interesting teams like the Jets or like
we don’t know if the Bills are going to miss playoffs. I think it’s going to take ten and seven. Like to get the wild card. So that means Cleveland has to go four and four. I mean, they have a good record. That’s what they have going. They’re six and three. Pittsburgh this weekend. Look at those teams. I think ten and seven is the you’re not getting a wild card in the AFC at nine and eight, ten and seven. So Cleveland four and four doesn’t sound too bad, does it? I mean, it sounds sort of doable.
The schedule is tough, but there’s so many other good teams, so the news as we’re following it this morning for the Cleveland Browns, again, this is a Cleveland Browns team who suffered a Nick Chubb injury earlier this season, who has been out for the season and now Deshaun Watson out for the season. Their offense is taking hits left and right and their defense has totally stepped up. If you follow Deshaun Watson on X, he’s posting this morning about frustrations And just just kind of, you know, when nothing makes sense kind of quote. So obviously, he’s
feeling things this morning and the Browns is now we move forward with them with a different quarterback under center most likely PJ Walker as we saw Dorian Thompson-robinson play quarterback for them earlier this season. They have an AFC north foe coming up this weekend and then they go on the road for a couple of weeks, but they close the season with the Bengals, which is really tough for them. We will be curious as to how this happens and unfolds for the Browns. Still to come on
