The Cleveland Browns didn’t have their franchise quarterback — DeShaun Watson who signed an unprecedented record breaking deal with the organization after four impressive years as the starter for the Houston Texans — when they fell to his former team in the playoffs last weekend.
Despite entering the game as a slight favorite on the road in Houston, the Browns got dominated on both sides of the ball and fell to first-year head coach Demeco Ryans and rookie QB CJ Stroud who were simply better than the Browns in the dominating 45-14 loss.
Surprisingly, Joe Flacco and the Cleveland Browns stat sheet was better or equivalent to the Texans in many key areas. The Cleveland Browns finished the game with 324 yards of total offense while Houston finished with 356. Cleveland dominated time of possession holding the ball for nearly 36 minutes on offense, and was much better than Houston on third down (7-of-15) vs. (2-of-8).
There were two key areas that led to such a lopsided victory for the underdogs. First and foremost, Stroud and the Texans offense made the most of their best offensive drives, scoring four touchdowns vs. Cleveland’s two.
CJ Stroud played like the poised veteran Cleveland Browns starter Joe Flacco — who was replacing the injured Deshaun Watson — was predicted to heading into the matchup. Stroud was calm and collected for the entirety of the matchup, not attempting to force throws and using his check downs when needed.
The rookie finished the game 16-of-21 for 274 yards and three touchdowns.
Flacco looked okay initially, but then suddenly appeared as if he was a first-year QB playing in a massive game with the season on the line. Ryans and the Texans defense used disguised packages to rattle him, recording four sacks in the game. But the back-breaker for the Cleveland Browns were two interceptions from Flacco, both returned for touchdowns.
If Deshaun Watson was playing would he have made those mistakes? It’s hard to tell, as the Watson who has seen limited time since signing with the Browns hasn’t always looked like the same player who was one of the best quarterbacks in the league for the Houston Texans in 2020, throwing for almost 5,000 yards, 33 touchdowns and jus seven interceptions with a QB Rating of 112.4.
In the seven games he started before his season was cut short early in 2023, Watson threw for 1,114 yards, seven touchdowns and four interceptions, with a QB rating of 84.3.
Deshaun Watson Calls Out Cleveland Browns Performance Vs. The Houston Texans
Despite not being available to play In the critical AFC Wildcard game, Watson still had plenty to say about the loss.
“If I was on the field, then yeah, we are going to compete and go blow for blow,” Watson said. “Unfortunately, I’m hurt, so go do your thing young buck.”
The Browns expect Watson to be ready for training camp. He’ll slide back into the starting QB role when he does, with the hope he can put his injury woes behind him.