Deshaun Watson’s Week 1 was a flat-out nightmare, plain and simple. He turned the ball over twice and got absolutely rocked, taking five sacks in the Browns’ brutal 34-10 loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars. You’d think after that kind of performance, a quarterback would be laser-focused on turning things around, but Watson just went ahead and blamed the media for the high expectations being placed on him for his upcoming Week 2 start.
The Pressure Cooker That Isn’t “Media Created”
This isn’t some made-up narrative. Watson’s Week 1 performance was genuinely rough. Yet, despite those struggles, the team still named him the starter for Week 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. When asked about feeling pressure to put up big numbers in that game, Watson dropped this bomb: “Personally, I think all that is for the media. I think the media has this expectation that I’m supposed to throw for 400 yards and five touchdowns every week. Until that happens, I guess it’s going to be the same situation. My job is to make sure I’m operating well so we can try to get a win and keep moving forward from there.”
Hold up. Blaming the media for expecting 400 yards and five touchdowns after you just had a two-turnover, five-sack game? That’s a wild take. The “expectation” right now is to just look competent. Coach Todd Monken even gave Watson a vote of confidence on Monday, saying there “were some really good things on film,” which, let’s be honest, sounds like a coach trying to find anything positive. The reality is, his job was to run the offense without issues, and Week 1 didn’t show that at all. This isn’t about media hype, it’s about what we saw on the field.
Those Home Boos Are Coming, And He Knows It
Watson might want to write off the idea of pressure, but it wasn’t that long ago that hometown fans were absolutely booing him during the second preseason game. Fans booed when he took the field, and they booed even harder after he threw an interception. That response from the home crowd is a real thing, not some media fabrication.
Now, he’s got to face former Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield in Week 2, and then presumably make his first home start of the season in Week 3. If he goes into that home game at 0-2 after two straight duds, those boos from the preseason are going to feel like a warm welcome compared to what’s coming. His grasp on the starting role is likely tenuous, especially given his off-the-field issues and on-field struggles, all while the team opted to start him over the younger Shedeur Sanders.
This Week 2 game against the Buccaneers is absolutely crucial. Watson needs to perform and give fans something to cheer about before those boos reach a raucous level in Week 3. If he can’t, it’s going to be a long season for him.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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