Positive Signs in Deshaun Watson's Difficult Game Against Bengals
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson had a relatively poor performance against the Cincinnati Bengals in awful conditions and while there are some issues to improve, there were positive signs that Watson is poised to play at a higher level quickly.
The weather had an impact on both quarterbacks and there were times when the waterlogged ball came out of Watson's hand like a cinder block, but he saw the field far better than he did last season.
At the start of the game, Watson dropped his eyes a few times and was either late or missed some opportunities early in the game, but once he got into the flow of things, his eyes were consistently in the right spot and he found open receivers. One would like to believe that if the weather were slightly better, Watson would have been able to pick the defense apart.
That's part of what made Watson's game so frustrating. He found the right target in the right spot and then short-hopped the target. The fact the Browns kept prodding the Bengals defense with shot plays throughout the game was a positive, something they should keep doing throughout the season and may have provided some breathing room underneath.
Credit to Watson that he didn't let the weather take him out of the game and kept his poise. That determination enabled him to put together a great drive at the end of the half to score the touchdown to put the Browns up 10-0. Watson had a handful of perfect passes on the drive, most notably a ball to the right sideline to Donovan Peoples-Jones that just made it over an underneath defender. Given how many had fallen short, that was a gutsy throw.
The drive was capped off by a great play call, when the Browns shifted from a bunch look into quads and ran a quarterback trap. The Bengals had six up on the line of scrimmage and with four defenders over the quads, there was no one in the middle of the field, so when Watson got through the first level behind a Wyatt Teller kickout block, he simply had to read Amari Cooper's block on the corner to get into the end zone.
That drive was started by Watson taking a painful shot to the ribs from two Bengals pass rushers. This is the area where Watson still has to get better. There's an element with Watson where he just takes some sacks he shouldn't and will take some ill advised hits as he tries to make plays. But in the case of the play where he took the shot to the ribs, he had a clean pocket with an open receiver and tried to climb the clogged pocket and put himself in harm's way. Had he just sat back and hit the target, he would've been fine.
This occurred on multiple occasions. Another aspect of the inclement weather, Watson didn't have the quickness and acceleration he's accustomed and was unable to explode going forward in the pocket, sacking himself in the process. Better field conditions might produce a different result, but while Watson's toughness may endear him to fans and teammates, the season is a marathon and he does need to take better care of his body.
The best example was on a screen the Bengals sniffed out where Watson could've just thrown the ball in the dirt, instead he runs all the way around the field and takes an unnecessary hit for a two-yard gain. Instead of 2nd-and-10, it was 2nd-and-8. Get out of the bad play call and avoid the hit. If it's 3rd or 4th-and-2, go get the first down.
It's notable that the Browns rarely kept more than five into pass protect. Watson is always going to prefer to have more receivers than more protection. In fact, leaving backs into protect can end up getting in Watson's way when he tries to extend the play.
However, with right tackle Jack Conklin out for an extended amount of time and a rookie right tackle in Dawand Jones, the coaching staff is probably going to have to provide some extra help, especially since the Browns will face the Steelers next week. Unless Watson is going to get the ball out of his hands quickly on a consistent basis, it's not a good matchup to single block T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith on the outside with Watt likely going up against a rookie.
Overall, Watson got more comfortable as the game went on. As frustrating as it was Watson and his receivers weren't connecting when opportunities were there, they made enough plays to win this game with reason to believe it's simply a matter of time before those plays hit and the offense takes off.
