The Browns Are Somehow 2-1: Deshaun Watson Is Doing Just Enough and This Defense Is Starting to Get Interesting

I genuinely did not expect to be writing this three weeks into the NFL season, but the Cleveland Browns are 2-1. Not 0-3. Not 1-2 with us already talking ourselves into draft position by October. Two and one. After beating Carolina 21-18 in the home opener Sunday, Cleveland is sitting alongside Pittsburgh and Cincinnati at 2-1 in the AFC North before Baltimore plays later today. Considering where my expectations were after that Week 1 disaster in Jacksonville, I will gladly take every ugly win this team wants to give me.

And this was absolutely an ugly win. Carolina outgained Cleveland 362-259, ran 74 plays to the Browns' 63 and threw for nearly twice as many yards. Cleveland committed 12 penalties for 85 yards and at times seemed determined to keep Carolina alive through self-inflicted mistakes. Yet when the game actually reached the moments that mattered, the Browns made the plays. Deshaun Watson threw the go-ahead touchdown with less than two minutes remaining, the offense converted the two-point try, and Ronnie Hickman ended Carolina's final possession with an interception. That is really the story of this Browns team right now. They are not overwhelming anybody. They are surviving.

I have made my feelings on Watson pretty clear. I am a Watson hater. I do not think he is remotely close to the quarterback Cleveland thought it was trading for years ago, and I do not think we are ever seeing that version again. The explosiveness is diminished, the arm talent does not consistently show up the way it once did, and there are still too many possessions where the offense just looks painfully difficult. Sunday was not some vintage Watson performance that should change anyone's opinion of where he is as a player. He finished 16-of-30 for only 145 passing yards. That is 4.8 yards per attempt. The Browns finished with 259 total yards. Nobody should be watching this offense and suddenly declaring the quarterback problem solved.

But I also have to be fair.

Watson is doing enough.

That is probably the most positive thing I can say about him right now, but through the last two weeks, that has actually been enough to win football games. He threw two touchdowns Sunday without an interception and added 44 yards on 11 carries. He is not outrunning entire defenses like the Houston version of Deshaun Watson, but there were several moments where his legs helped keep Cleveland alive. Last week against Tampa he was 24-of-30 for 238 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Sunday was considerably uglier, but once again, he protected the football and made the throw Cleveland absolutely needed at the end.

The Browns actually controlled the first half despite the offense doing very little. Andre Szmyt hit a 48-yard field goal to make it 3-0, and Cleveland's defense repeatedly turned Carolina away. The Panthers failed on each of their first four third-down attempts, and the Browns produced two fourth-down stops. Mason Graham blew up one fourth-down attempt by getting Bryce Young down in the backfield, and Carolina later went for fourth-and-1 from its own 40 only to come up empty again. Cleveland eventually turned that field position into a seven-play, 40-yard touchdown drive, with Watson finding Harold Fannin Jr. for a two-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal. Despite Watson going only 8-of-16 for 60 yards in the half and Cleveland committing 10 penalties before halftime, the Browns somehow went into the locker room leading 10-3.

The second half was where this started feeling like Browns football again. Carolina chipped away with field goals, Cleveland's offense went cold and suddenly a game that felt fairly controlled became 12-10 Panthers early in the fourth quarter. Szmyt answered with a 45-yard field goal to put Cleveland back ahead 13-12, but Bryce Young finally broke through with 4:31 remaining when he found John Metchie for an eight-yard touchdown. Carolina led 18-13.

At that point I thought we were cooked.

That is where I have to give Watson credit.

Cleveland got the ball needing a touchdown. No field goal. No defense bailing you out immediately. Go win the game. Watson moved the Browns down the field and eventually found Fannin for a 14-yard touchdown with 1:55 remaining. Then he hit Denzel Boston for the two-point conversion to make it 21-18. That is now two straight weeks where Watson has helped produce the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Against Tampa, it was the 12-play, 68-yard drive that ended with the touchdown to Blake Whiteheart. Against Carolina, it was Fannin. Again, I am not telling you Watson is back. He is not. But if the standard is simply, "Can you make enough plays to let this defense win the game?" he has done that two weeks in a row.

Fannin deserves his own paragraph because he is quickly becoming one of the most trustworthy players in this offense. Seven catches, 52 yards and both Cleveland touchdowns Sunday. The first came on fourth-and-goal. The second came with the game on the line. Watson clearly trusts him when things break down, and Fannin is becoming exactly the type of safety blanket a limited quarterback needs. Cleveland has quietly put together an interesting young offensive group between Fannin, Denzel Boston, KC Concepcion and Quinshon Judkins. Not all of them went crazy Sunday, but you can at least start to see what the Browns are trying to build.

Judkins finally gave Cleveland something resembling a legitimate running game too. He finished with 70 yards on 18 carries after totaling only 54 rushing yards over the first two weeks combined. The numbers are not spectacular, but he ran harder than the stat line suggests and gave the offense something it desperately needed. When your quarterback is no longer capable of carrying the offense for four quarters, having a back who can consistently create manageable second and third downs becomes incredibly important. The Browns need Judkins to keep growing because this offense cannot survive asking Watson to throw it 40 times every Sunday.

The most encouraging thing about this team is still the defense. They just held Tampa Bay to 19 points and Carolina to 18 in back-to-back weeks, and they are doing it after trading away Myles Garrett. Garrett was not just another defensive end. He was the identity of this defense, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and the guy who set the NFL single-season sack record with 23 last year. Cleveland sent him to the Rams in June for Jared Verse plus a first-, second- and third-round pick. Losing a player like that was supposed to be the type of move that immediately makes a defense worse. Instead, this group is starting to look very frisky.

Mason Graham continues to look like a monster inside. Jared Verse is not Myles Garrett, and nobody should expect him to be, but he gives Cleveland legitimate juice off the edge. Carson Schwesinger keeps flying around. Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit remain high-end veterans on the back end, and now Ronnie Hickman gets to add the game-sealing play Sunday. Carolina got the ball back with 1:48 remaining needing only a field goal to force overtime. Bryce Young moved them out toward midfield, but with 17 seconds remaining Hickman jumped the route and picked him off at the Cleveland 46. Kneel down. Game over. Browns 21, Panthers 18.

Bryce Young actually played a pretty solid game statistically. He finished 27-of-48 for 293 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Carolina had 362 total yards and Chuba Hubbard gave them 82 rushing yards. But the Browns kept forcing field goals when Carolina crossed into scoring territory. That was the difference. Carolina scored on five different possessions and only one ended in a touchdown. When you have an offense as limited as Cleveland's, that type of red-zone defense is the reason you have any chance at all.

The penalty issue has to get cleaned up immediately. Twelve penalties for 85 yards is ridiculous, and 10 of those flags came in the first half. You cannot consistently beat good teams while giving away that much free yardage. Cleveland also lost a fumble and allowed Carolina to run 11 more plays. This was not some statement victory where the Browns dominated from start to finish. It was a three-point home win over Carolina where plenty went wrong. That matters when trying to figure out how sustainable this actually is.

But this is also where I think Browns fans are allowed to enjoy it a little bit.

The reaction online basically matched how I feel. Nobody suddenly thinks Watson has turned back into a superstar. Even Browns fans who have been extremely skeptical of him are starting to acknowledge that he has played reasonably well enough over the past two weeks to keep the team functional. The conversation has shifted from "How soon until they bench him?" after Jacksonville to "Okay, maybe this team actually has something if the quarterback just stops actively losing games." That is a hilariously low bar considering what Cleveland invested in Watson, but at this point, I am not interested in relitigating the trade every Sunday. The contract exists. He is the quarterback. Win football games.

And somehow, they are.

I fully expected the Browns to potentially start 0-3. Jacksonville on the road, Tampa Bay on the road and then a Carolina team that had just beaten Atlanta 34-3 felt like a very realistic path to disaster. I would have happily accepted 1-2. Instead Cleveland survived Tampa, came home, survived Carolina and is 2-1.

Now things get interesting.

The Steelers just beat Cincinnati, leaving Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Cleveland all sitting at 2-1 before Baltimore plays Dallas. And Cleveland's next game is Thursday night against Pittsburgh. Suddenly that is not just another early-season Browns-Steelers game. That is a division game with Cleveland having a chance to move to 3-1 and put itself right in the middle of the AFC North conversation.

Am I ready to call the Browns good?

Absolutely not.

Do I trust Deshaun Watson?

Absolutely not.

Do I think this offense is capable of carrying them anywhere?

Not even close.

But the defense is legitimate enough to keep games ugly. Judkins is starting to give them something on the ground. Fannin looks like a real weapon. The young guys are contributing. Watson, for all of his limitations and everything I have said about him, has now made the winning plays late in consecutive games.

Sometimes that is all you need.

Deshaun Watson is nowhere near what he used to be. He probably never will be again. But right now Cleveland does not need Houston Deshaun Watson. They need a quarterback who protects the ball, converts a few third downs, makes one or two plays with his legs and gives this defense a chance to close games.

For two straight Sundays, that is exactly what he has done.

The Browns are 2-1.

I still cannot believe it.