Easy-peasy

Before shifting into prediction mode, an interesting slice of history interlocks with the Browns' very interesting game Sunday in Houston against the Texans. It's not so much what makes it interesting as who makes it interesting.

Deshaun Watson makes his return to the National Football League to face his former employer after spending exactly 700 days in football limbo after being charged in early 2021 of sexually assaulting more than 24 massage therapists who filed civil suits against him.

Fast forward to the present after all but two of the suits have been settled, the Browns trading for him in a stunning and controversial blockbuster deal and Watson completing an 11-game league suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy.

The irony of Watson making his return against his former team on the road has caught the attention of social media all around the country. It's a game that matches the struggling 4-7 Browns against the 1-9-1 Texans and would be almost totally ignored under normal circumstances. But these circumstances are far from normal and will be closely watched.

The game will drip with drama if for no other reason the NFL universe will be anxious to find out whether Watson can return to the elite status -- arguably among the top five quarterbacks in the league -- he achieved in his first four seasons with the Texans. 

He started all but one of his 54 appearances (28-25 record), throwing for 14,539 yards, 104 touchdowns, 36 interceptions and completing nearly 68% of his passes. His athleticism enabled him to run for another 1.677 yards and 17 more touchdowns. 

His 2020 stats were staggeringly spectacular. He completed 70.3% of his passes for 4,823 yards, 33 touchdowns and just seven picks in 544 attempts. He added 440 yards and three more scores on the ground. Those are the numbers the Browns look forward to from him for the next four seasons.

All of which conjures up one more irony. Watson came thisclose to being a Cleveland Brown in the 2017 college football draft. He was there at No. 12 when the Browns were on the clock for the second time in the round after selecting Myles Garrett with the top overall pick.

Instead of taking a quarterback they desperately needed, the clueless Sashi Brown of the 1-15 Browns sent the pick to the Texans for pick 25 (safety Jabrill Peppers) and their first-rounder in 2018 (cornerback Denzel Ward). After two mediocre seasons with Cleveland, Peppers was shipped to the New York Giants.

So in a roundabout way, as it turns out, Watson is where he was meant to be at this stage of his career. We'll never know, of course, how he would have performed in Cleveland. It certainly couldn't have been any worse than what Brown and the dunderheads running the team at the time turned out.

Rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer and buffoonish head coach Hue Jackson combined to humiliate the once-proud franchise with a still-trying-hard-to-forget winless season for only the second time in the 103-year history of the NFL.

Now on to Sunday's game in which the Browns are in the unfamiliar position of seven-point favorites. Road game, 1-9-1 opponent. Yep, seems about right, even with Watson most likely struggling at first to chip away at all the game-time rust that has accumulated since he last had the huddle.

Media reports out of camp this week were aglow with how terrific he has looked. With no one in his face, how bad could he look? Now with the Texans looking to knock him into next week on every dropback, that likely will change.

It will be interesting to see how the Texans defend against their ex-teammate. In the Browns' first 11 games with Jacoby Brissett in charge, opposing teams squeezed the field in an effort to neuter the ground game and dared the veteran quarterback to throw. 

Can't do that with Watson, a more accurate and pocket-savvy passer than Brissett and just as dangerous when he takes off. His only problem Sunday will be adjusting after the long layoff to the speed of the game, which could affect his timing on passes early on.

We'll also find out whether head coach/playcaller Kevin Stefanski choreographs a different style of offense with Watson at the helm, predicated more on the pass than the run. He'll have to do it this week without tight end Davis Njoku, who was injured in practice Friday.

The Texans, meanwhile, are winless at home this season and lug a six-game losing streak into this one as they pull away from the rest of the pack in the race for the top pick in the next year's college draft. They make the Browns look like a, well, like a decent football team.

They don't score much. Just 16 points a game. The line has trouble protecting quarterback Davis Mills, who has been sacked 28 times. Rookie running back Dameon Pierce leads the team in rushing with 71 yards a game and veteran Brandin Cooks leads the Texans with just 520 receiving yards. The Texans look like most of the Browns teams of the last two decades.

Their sieve-like defense yields 385 yards and allows 24 points an outing. Slightly ahead of them is the Cleveland defense that yields 348 yards and 26 points a game. The big difference is the Browns average 24 points a game on offense. And with Watson in charge now, look for that average to climb.

This is, by far, the easiest pick of the season. Maybe the entire season. With emotions flowing from Watson's return to the city where he gained professional fame before his off-the-field misbehavior brought him down, and the fact the Browns are decidedly the better team, this one will not be close. The disappointing Cleveland defense finally faces an inferior team and actually looks decent. Make it:

Browns 27, Texans 10