Mid-week thoughts

Deshaun Watson did not take non-football questions with the Cleveland media Thursday. Here's hoping this is a one-time thing mere days away from resuming his National Football League career.

The new Browns quarterback was silent with regard to prior off-the-field activities that garnered him high-profile national attention and sidelined him for the first 11 games of the 2022 regular season. He did so, he said, on the advice of his legal and clinical team.

For what it's worth, some advice for that team. (Painting with a broad brush here.) Their client has a problem with not only his new constituency in Cleveland, but NFL fans around the country uncomfortable he is still playing and will let him know for a long time.

Not talking about it doesn't mean it will eventually go away. Watson's behavior with all those massage therapists has labeled him. It is a label that will follow him for the rest of his life regardless of how he chooses to lead it.

Now that his league-sanctioned 11-game suspension has concluded, Watson needs to own what he did. He has not done so yet. He still proclaims his innocence. In his mind, he maintains he did nothing wrong. And his legal team needs to convince him to own it.

His current stance must change if Watson has any shot at redemption within the NFL universe. That doesn't excuse what he did, of course, but it would be a step in the right direction by suggesting he now understands what he did was wrong.

Instead of hiding behind his legal team, he should talk without getting into specifics about how the entire sordid situation that landed him in his life-altering predicament has changed that life for the better. And I don't mean the Browns desperately bribing him with a $230 million fully-guaranteed contract.

There's still a sizable segment of Browns Nation that isn't certain they are comfortable enough to stay on the bandwagon because of Watson's presence on the roster. They need to see a side of him they haven't seen thus far. Thursday's silence was not it.

Watson's teammates embraced his return and have rallied around him. Not surprising. They realize his presence on the field heavily ratchets up their chances to return to the postseason. Not this season, though. Not with a 4-7 record. This season is shot.

Watson is a great professional football quarterback. He is legit. One of the NFL's elite quarterbacks. But he is not a miracle worker. In essence, he'll be getting ready for next season in the next six games. 

***

Watched the tape of the Browns' overtime 23-17 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last Sunday. I'm almost certain I would have fallen asleep midway through the game had I watched it live because I struggled to keep my eyes open watching the tape. What a deadly dull game.

I kept waiting for something to happen. What I saw was a punting clinic conducted by Corey Bojorquez of the Browns and Jake Camarda of the Bucs. Bojorquez averaged 54.8 yards on his six kicks; Camarda averaged 47.1 yards on his nine boots.

Breaking it down, the mild first half was a sneak preview that saw only three punts in nine possessions. The second half, which had a spectacular ending with a terrific one-handed touchdown catch by tight end David Njoku to tie the game with a half minute left in regulation, needed 13 possessions that ended with nine punts, including six of the first seven.

A football game tried in vain to break out, but quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett and Tom Brady were just inept enough to force it to overtime. That session drew three more punts in four possessions, making it 15 total punts in 26 possessions. That, folks, is dull football. 

Nick Chubb looked like his old self after head coach Kevin Stefanski decided that maybe feeding him more would help. Chubb's 26 carries, a Stefanski record with his Pro Bowl running back, concluded with a three-yard burst after Brissett and Amari Cooper hooked up on a 45-yard catch and run to set up the winning score in the last half minute of OT.

Two asides:

Anthony Schwartz is a weapon with the football in his hands. His 31-yard reverse for a touchdown to cap the opening drive was a beauty and took full advantage of his world-class speed. Biggest problem there is getting the ball in the wide receiver's hands, which still struggle to catch said football. And . . . 

Rookie kicker Cade York continued his puzzling inconsistency. He hit from 51 yards to break a 7-7 tie on the club's second possession of the game, but shanked a (for him) chip shot from the 39 a few possessions later. He has hit on only 17 of 23 field-goal attempts with three blocks and missed two of 26 extra points. What gives?

Ond more thing:

The Tampa Bay victory was the Browns' first on a Sunday since the opening-game triumph in Carolina, snapping a seven-game losing streak on that day of the week The other two victories were on a Thursday night (Pittsburgh) and Monday night (Cincinnati), both at home.