The Cleveland Browns day went awry with the first kick of the game and never got better as the Browns lost to the Cincinnati Bengals 21-14 in Cleveland.
Charlie Jones of the Bengals took the opening kickoff for a touchdown and the Browns never pulled even for the remainder of the game.
Nick Chubb rushed for a touchdown and David Njoku caught ten passes including a touchdown to lead Cleveland in defeat on a day that DeShaun Watson may have taken his last snap as a Cleveland Brown.
Cleveland falls to 1-6 after the loss and will host Baltimore next week.
Brownie Bits
1) DeShaun Watson played his usual game for the Browns before the injury consisting of dink and dunk passes, completing many and moving the chains seldom.
That said, Watson was in the middle of the best Browns drive of the day to that point, which eventually would be finished with the Browns first touchdown.
Watson finished the day completing fifteen of seventeen passes for one hundred twenty-eight yards before leaving the game.
2) It was very evident on the play where DeShaun Watson blew out his Achilles tendon without being touched that the injury was severe.
I watched the play, turned, and said "That's an Achilles injury and that's bad".
The replay shows the bulge and those injuries are almost always devastating.
3) The controversy about some fans cheering the injury to Watson led to players confronting fans during the period that Watson was being attended to on the field and emotional statements by Myles Garrett and Jameis Winston after the game.
Here's my take- I think fans have the right to boo players that they feel aren't playing up to their salaries.
Cheering when players are injured crosses the line and I think the fans that did that crossed the line.
4) The final Watson drive was completed by Dorian Thompson-Robinson and ended with a short touchdown run by Nick Chubb.
On a day filled with bad football and the season-ending injury to DeShaun Watson, the return of Nick Chubb and the response that he received from Cleveland fans was just about the only fun news from an awful game.
5) It was a bad game for veteran kicker Dustin Hopkins, who missed a 49-yard field goal attempt, missed an extra point, and failed to take an angle on the Charlie Jones kick return that might have caused Jones to go out of bounds or give another player a better chance to bring Jones to the turf.
6) Special teams coach Bubba Ventrone is renowned as one of the better special teams coaches in the league, which is why the return for a touchdown by Cincinnati was a surprise.
7) Before the game, the Browns announced that Dorian Thompson-Robinson had been designated the backup QB with Jameis Winston as the emergency quarterback.
I thought that was a bit odd but when DeShaun Watson was injured, it was DTR in the game.
Other than the short field touchdown and a thirty-four-yard scramble, his play wasn't impressive, throwing two interceptions and injuring a finger when he took a sack.
8) When DTR left the game due to his finger injury, Jameis Winston entered the game as the designated emergency quarterback for the Browns final drive and the Browns scored their final touchdown when Winston hit a leaping David Njoku in the back of the end zone.
9) Many think the Browns should play Dorian Thompson-Robinson over Winston when he returns to health to see "what they have".
I don't. The Browns should know what they have as DTR lacks the arm to push the ball deep and his frail frame is going to keep him off and on that injured reserve.
10) Jameis Winston isn't going to send the Browns to the playoffs but his ability to stand tall in the pocket and power arm fits the offense and much like Joe Flacco in 2023, gives the Browns a chance to steal a few games- which might be exactly why they prefer DTR at this point.
11) David Njoku and Cedric Tillman combined for eighteen catches and might be the biggest winners of the quarterback change.
12) A final word on Jedric Wills, who continues to show a complete disinterest in blocking.
That is a real problem for an offensive tackle, the sooner he is gone, the better.
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