The Cleveland Browns evened their record in the young 2024 season to 1-1, getting past the Jacksonville Jaguars at Everbank Stadium by an 18-13 final score to help alleviate some of the bad feelings from Week 1’s 33-17 setback against the Dallas Cowboys. And it was a personal milestone for quarterback Deshaun Watson, who improved to a perfect 7-0 in his career when facing the Jaguars.
Watson would finish 22 of 33 passing for a total of 186 yards, which included an opening drive that saw him complete seven of eight passes for 86 total yards as the Browns reached the end zone first. He finished the first half by completing 11 of 15 passes for 105 yards.
Following the game, Watson admitted that he didn’t want to “jinx” himself, but that he remained confident.
“I was thinking that all week, actually, but I didn’t want to jinx myself so I didn’t tell anybody, but I kind of knew that I had a pretty good record against Jacksonville,” Watson exclaimed. “Going into this week, I felt really, really confident.”
“Yeah, just keep everything the main thing the main thing,” Watson continued. “Like I told you guys before, I know who I am. The ultimate, I have a job to do, that’s [to] play quarterback for the Cleveland Browns and be the best I can be when I step on the field.”
Head coach Kevin Stefanski expressed contentment with Watson’s performance afterward, showing particular praise for his pocket movement.
“I’m not going to say comeback performance. That’s our starting quarterback out there making plays, he’s not perfect,” he said of Watson. “He made some plays and that’s who he is. I thought his pocket movement, making plays off schedule was incredible.
“A couple of those throws down the field were really, really impressive and he never blinked.”
Deshaun Watson booed by Jaguars fans
Loud boos were heard when Watson ran into the end zone to cap his team’s first scoring drive, following the latest allegations against him, which he has strongly denied. Despite the allegations, he continues to play on his five-year, $230 million fully-guaranteed contract.
Earlier today, it was also reported by Jay Glazer of Fox Sports that Watson’s contract does not include a protection clause for the 2024-26 seasons in the event he were to get suspended again for off-field indiscretions.
I Think i screwed up how I explained Watson’s contract this AM. There was a clause to protect him in 2022-23 even in case of suspension. I said they took out those protections when they restructured deal in Aug but that was off as they didn’t have that clause in the original deal…
— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) September 15, 2024
Meanwhile, Watson’s performance against the Jaguars was a significant improvement compared to last week’s loss to the Cowboys, where he completed 24 of 45 passes for 169 yards while taking six sacks. He and the Browns will host the New York Giants at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland next week in Week 3.
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