Deshaun Watson’s return from an 11-game suspension stemming from more than two dozen lawsuits detailing graphic accounts of sexual harassment and sexual assault—or, as one unequipped television broadcaster Sunday chose to call it, “his long road back”—looked exactly like a guy taking a football field who hasn’t seen, or been able to effectively simulate, live-game speed in almost two years.
That’s mostly what we’re prepared to say right now, which is the ultimate insult to the hot-take gods, who lobbed us up a dunkable ball Sunday.
Most of Watson’s 22 throws were scattershot. He looked visibly uncomfortable, a step slow and somewhat unwilling to run in the open field. The Browns, as predicted, relied heavily on a running game and defense to beat the worst team in the NFL, the 1-10-1 Texans. They did not score an offensive touchdown. Watson completed only 12 passes for 131 yards. He was picked off in the end zone, and Nick Chubb was dropped for a safety for good measure. The cheap, easy schadenfreude for the many people rooting against the Browns was readily available for purchase like a homemade, unlicensed shirt being sold in the parking lot.
