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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Christian D'Andrea

Deshaun Watson reached a new level of broken with the dumbest backward pass of 2023

Deshaun Watson Aaron Brooks Browns (Organization) Cleveland (Organization) Elijah Moore Jacoby Brissett Jerome Ford NFL

The Cleveland Browns mortgaged their future for Deshaun Watson. They received, in return, a player with a history of sexual misconduct and a stunning inability to return to his previous Pro Bowl form.

Cleveland traded three first round picks — and six picks total — to the Houston Texans in exchange for a player who faced more than 20 accusations of sexual misconduct and engaged in what the NFL itself would later call “predatory behavior.” Then the Browns handed him an unprecedented, fully guaranteed $230 million contract extension that ties him to northeast Ohio until at least 2026.

In exchange, the Browns got 2022’s 33rd-best quarterback. And now they have … whatever the hell this was.

… yeah.

Watson was a disaster to finish out his first season in Cleveland, putting up significantly worse numbers than Jacoby Brissett, the journeyman quarterback he replaced. Despite a full offseason to gel with his new team, he hasn’t been better in 2023. He’s frequently run into traffic or made poor decisions. In Week 3, he combined those two faults and launched the ball eight yards in the wrong direction, ostensibly trying to hit wideout Elijah Moore.

Moore was able to stem the bleeding that resulted. His pickup prevented a turnover, leading to a loss of 16 yards instead of the seven yard setback Watson would have absorbed on a sack.

Stunningly, the Tennessee Titans let the Browns off the hook the very next play. A defensive pass interference penalty — as well as a roughing the passer flag, which was declined — set Cleveland up with a fresh set of downs. Five plays after firing the ball into his own backfield, Watson found tailback Jerome Ford for a 19-yard touchdown.

The negative repercussions of his doofus-ball play may have been wiped from the drive chart, but the rest of the world wasn’t about to let Watson off the hook.

 

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