Deshaun Watson entered Week 1 as the Cleveland Browns‘ starting quarterback after Todd Monken chose him over Shedeur Sanders. Still, his first regular-season appearance in 693 days quickly turned ugly.
Cleveland lost 34-10 to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the season opener after falling behind 24-0 at halftime, matching the Browns’ largest halftime deficit in which they didn’t score a point in the past 35 years.
After the game, Watson accepted full responsibility for the sluggish offensive performance.
“I think we just got to find a rhythm overall,” Watson said. “Of course everyone’s going to look at the quarterback in the situation. We got to put points on the board, and that’s what you got to do in this league.
“Obviously, I take that responsibility full throttle, and we got to look at the tape and see how we can be better and try to attack Tampa Bay next week to be able to get points on the board to be able to get wins.”
Watson completed 16 of 22 passes for 205 yards, one touchdown and one interception while taking five sacks. Cleveland produced only five first downs across six first-half possessions and went 0-for-4 on third down before halftime.
Watson acknowledged that his responsibilities as the starting quarterback are larger than anyone else’s.
“Playing the quarterback position, you’re the leader in that (offensive) role,” Watson said, “and we didn’t do that today. We only got 10. We left a lot out there.”
Ken Blaze-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
The performance immediately renewed questions about Watson’s hold on the starting job after Monken named him QB1 on Aug. 24 following a competition with Sanders.
However, Monken defended Watson while declining to guarantee he would remain the starter in Week 2, saying he needed to review the film and “evaluate everything.”
“It wasn’t all (Watson). It really wasn’t all him. I mean, that’s unfair,” Monken said. “Certainly could have called it better, certainly could have played better around him. Certainly, there’s plays I’m sure he wants back. There were certain things operationally that weren’t clean enough… I’m not down. I’m disappointed.”
Cleveland will try to rebound against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2 at 1 p.m. ET.
