Deshaun Watson started a football game on Sunday for the first time in nearly two years, and it went as poorly as many expected.
The 31-year-old Browns quarterback, who hadn’t played since Oct. 20, 2024 after tearing (and re-tearing) his Achilles, threw an ugly interception from the Jaguars’ 28-yard line on Cleveland’s opening drive, setting the tone for a 34-10 Jacksonville victory.
Watson, who didn’t appear to see Jaguars linebacker Foyesade Oluokun sitting right in the middle of the field, offered a defense of his poor play that won’t exactly ease Browns fans’ concerns.
“Bad plays are going to happen all the time,” Watson told reporters after the game. “You look all around the league, everyone throws interceptions, everyone makes bad plays. And you’ve got to give the defense credit. [Oluokun] made a good play on that. Even though I got knocked off my platform a little bit, I thought I got it over him and he reached up and grabbed it.
“You’ve got to move on to the next play and try to move forward and try to put something positive on the next drive, and we weren’t able to do that. It didn’t really bother up my confidence.”
The Jaguars scored a touchdown off the interception and were off to the races, taking a 24-0 lead by halftime.
After the interception, the Browns went three-and-out twice. First-round rookie receiver KC Concepcion then lost a fumble on the second play of Cleveland’s fourth possession.
Watson threw a garbage-time 46-yard touychdown to second-round rookie Denzel Boston and finished 16-for-22 with 205 yards while taking five sacks, adding six rushes for 38 yards.
When first-year head coach Todd Monken named Watson the starter over Shedeur Sanders before the season, he said this was “not a week-to-week decision.”
However, after the loss he was noncommittal about Watson starting next Sunday’s road game against the Buccaneers.
