The Cleveland Browns fell to 1-4 on the season after a loss to the Washington Commanders on Sunday and, again, Deshaun Watson as the team’s starting quarterback was questioned.
Watson was 15 of 28 with 125 passing yards and a garbage-time touchdown pass. He had a passer rating of 77.2 and a QBR of 8.5. In one instance, he even left head coach Kevin Stefanski flabbergasted with a delay-of-game penalty in the third quarter.
Dan Orlovsky, a former Detroit Lions quarterback and current NFL analyst for ESPN, ripped the Browns and questioned why Watson was still the starting quarterback.
“The Cleveland Browns are in the worst situation in pro sports,” he said on ESPN’s “First Take.” “They’re done and so is Deshaun Watson. If you want to see a situation where the head coach has absolutely no say of who’s playing on the field, it’s happening in Cleveland. Kevin Stefanski is a two-time coach of the year. He is a brilliant offensive mind, and this offense looks nothing like the offense he won two-time coach of the year with.
“They’re in an awful situation. And by every measure, if you just watch the game, and then you look at the stats, their offensive performance and, specifically, Deshaun Watson’s offensive performance is the worst in the NFL. They’re done. … They should have benched him Week 1.”
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Orlovsky pinned the decision to keep Watson as the team’s starting quarterback on co-owner Jimmy Haslam rather than Stefanski or general manager Andrew Berry.
Stefanski reiterated his support for Watson as the starter even as Cleveland has yet to score more than 20 points this season.
“I have to coach better. As offensive coaches, we have to coach better,” Stefanski said Monday. “As players, we have to play better. Deshaun can play better. He will play better. He’s had some obviously good moments and then there’s times that we have to play better around him. But he’s committed to getting better. We’re committed as an offense to putting our guys in position to succeed.”
Stefanski said he still believes Watson gives the Browns the best chance to win.
“This is not a one-person type of deal,” he added. “When we’re playing how we’re playing on offense, we need everybody to do their job and do their job better. And I look at myself and how I can do that, but I believe in Deshaun, I believe in what he brings to this offense, and I believe he will play better.”
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