It would be quite a challenge to find a Browns fan with a smile on his face after what they were subjected to on Sunday, but Deshaun Watson wants everyone to know he’s still smiling.
After Cleveland’s 34-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Watson was asked by reporters whether his early interception rattled him and threw off his performance. A reasonable query given how bad Watson was; however, Cleveland’s $235 million man wants everyone who is for him and against him to be at ease.
“No, I mean, bad plays are going to happen all the time,” Watson told reporters. “You look all around the league. Everyone throws interceptions, everyone makes bad plays. You’ve got to give the defense credit. He made a good play on that. Even though I got knocked off my platform a little bit, I thought I got it over him. He reached up and grabbed it. So 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.
“So it didn’t really bundle up my confidence. It’s just — we didn’t get back on track like we wanted to.”
Watson threw an interception and gave up a strip-sack fumble in the game. His passing yard total of 205 yards was bolstered by a 46-yard touchdown pass that came very late when the game was already decided, and the Jags were playing a very loose defense.
While talk radio is scorching the Browns and Watson while calling on head coach Todd Monken to put in Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, or even the hot dog vendor, Watson insists his experience will get him through the adversity.
“Yeah, I mean just keep moving forward, keep stepping forward, keep smiling, regardless of who’s against me or who’s with me,” Watson said. “I think that’s more beneficial for the team in that locker room. I’ve had a lot of support in that locker room after the game telling me to keep my head up, keep pushing forward, keep working. They’re behind me, so that’s always positive to see and hear. Yeah, we just got to keep going.
“The adversity is going to be there. You’ve got to embrace it. That’s the only way — I thought it was going to be gone two years ago, but I guess not. So you just embrace it and keep pushing through until you break that wall through.”
The Browns will stay in Florida (probably the safest place for them to be) for Week 2, when they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.