Browns 1st and Goal Report: A very unpopular decision has fans upset

1st and Goal: Browns decision to start Deshaun Watson in Week 1 doesn’t make sense

 

I wrote last week that I thought Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson would be the Week 1 starter after a competition between him and second year player Shedeur Sanders over the summer.

I was never in favor of the move but thought that based on what new Browns coach Todd Monken was saying about the two quarterbacks that it would be Watson in the end.

It ended up being the right prediction but after the recent fiasco of the last preseason game against the Buffalo Bills where Watson basically scolded the Browns fan base after he was relentlessly booed by the home team crowd because of his poor play, it only made Monken’s decision more confusing.

 

The Browns and coach Monken are trying their hardest to tell the fans that Watson gives Cleveland the best chance at wins this season. However, the fans can see how Watson is playing this preseason and at training camp and know that it’s a farce. 

While his competition Shedeur Sanders hasn’t been awesome either with his play this offseason he has shown far more ability to move the Browns offense. Sanders is young and his ceiling to become even better is high. 

To confuse the fanbase even more Watson goes out and rips the fanbase after a preseason game and still days later his new coach announces him as the starting quarterback of the Browns. Coach Monken says too that Watson’s embarrassing and crass press conference didn’t factor into his quarterback decision. Make it make sense! 

The answer to why Monken made the decision to go with Watson had little to do with performance on the football field. The Browns guaranteed him $230 million not so long ago and money talks. That’s what this comes down to and that’s a sad state of affairs. 

2nd and Goal: Nick Chubb Retires

If you want to do a case study in how to go about your football career the right way compared to the wrong way, then using former Browns running back Nick Chubb and Deshaun Watson in the study would be the greatest examples.

I’ll let you guess which one is which. 

Chubb announced his retirement last Friday. He played for the Browns from 2018 through 2024. He rumbled for 6,843 yards in that time, third all time only behind Browns legends Leroy Kelly and Jim Brown. 

Beyond the greatness on the field of play he was always the most respectable and driven NFL player around. He honored the game by playing every down like it was his last. Every time he was handed the football, you thought there was a chance at him running it to pay dirt.

Cleveland has missed his professionalism ever since he left the team two years ago. He was simply one of the best to wear the Orange and Brown!

3rd and Goal: Week 1 and Week 2 are on the road

A part of Browns coach Todd Monken’s decision to start Deshaun Watson in Week 1 might have been because his team starts the season on the road and stays on the road in Week 2.

First up Cleveland faces Jacksonville in Week 1. The Browns historically have been awful in opening games of the season so I don’t expect that to change.

In Week 2, the Browns stay in Florida and play Tampa Bay. Former Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield and current Tampa Bay quarterback has that game circled on his calendar. Mayfield was initially traded by the Browns after Cleveland traded for Watson back in 2022. To say Mayfield is licking his chops in anticipation of crushing the Browns is probably an understatement. 

4th and Goal: The outlook on the upcoming Browns season is bleak

It’s rare that I go into a new Browns season with so little excitement. What little enthusiasm I had, like many of you, was washed away when Monken and the Browns announced that Watson would start the season. The opportunity we thought second year quarterback Shedeur Sanders was going to get this season was suspended at least for the moment.

We’ll have to see how things evolve this season but it already feels like the season is over before it even begins. 

Let’s hope I’m wrong and somehow this new Browns team has more success then imagined. But, I don’t think I’m wrong. Time will tell. Stay tuned!