This week, the Indianapolis Colts drafted their struggling second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson, a player they have made a major investment in, with the fourth pick of last year’s draft. At 4-4, they owed it to everyone in the organization and also to the fans to play Joe Flacco, the best option at the moment.
So it can be done, Cleveland Browns.
After watching the Browns beat the Baltimore Ravens in Jameis Winston’s first start last week, there was some celebration for a reborn team with Winston at quarterback and some anger about why the team made the decision to stick with Deshaun Watson absolutely messed up when the season was over. turn away. Since the end of last season, the Browns are 5-1 in games started by Flacco or Winston. In that span, they are 1-6 with Watson as the starter. Flacco threw for 300 yards in four straight games to finish last season for the Browns, while Winston threw for 334 yards on Sunday. Watson hasn’t thrown for 300 yards since the 2020 season and hasn’t even broken 200 yards in a game this season. And yet it took a season-ending Achilles injury for Watson to finally make the change.
Everyone could see that the Browns had to make a move. They didn’t. And now they can see what life could have been like all season long with competent quarterback play.
“I don’t really think about it that way,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Monday when asked via the AP whether he would stick with Watson. “I thought Jameis did a good job yesterday. I know he feels like he can play better, but I don’t think about it that way.”
He may not think about it, but the fans who spend a lot of money on tickets or the players in the locker room who don’t have endless opportunities to be part of a playoff team should. Winston isn’t great. But he’s much better than Watson, as is Flacco. He gives hope. And he could have given hope weeks ago.
Why didn’t the Browns do this sooner?
There has been no definitive answer yet as to who made the final decision to stick with Watson, although Stefanski has stubbornly dismissed the idea all season. Stefanski is the one who speaks to the media every week, so he’s the one who had to answer the question. But Watson’s lack of action was so egregious that it has everyone wondering if owner Jimmy Haslam had a say in it. He’s the one paying Watson a $230 million guaranteed deal, which the team signed him to after one of the NFL’s truly disastrous trades. history.
Additionally, the Browns lost their sixth game this season, with Dorian Thompson-Robinson, not Winston, coming off the bench for an injured Watson in Week 7. Thompson-Robinson, who had a 51.1 passer rating last season, went to a putrid 11 . of 24 for 82 yards and two interceptions in the loss. Another terrible coaching decision, another wasted week.
What we have seen with the 2024 Browns is organizational malpractice. The Browns ended the season and for what? To hopelessly pursue a return on investment from a sunk price on a quarterback? To appease the feelings of Watson, whose off-field past probably shouldn’t afford him that kind of care?
The Browns’ new hope only masks the franchise’s inability to plug this hole.
“It takes a win like this to change the season,” Winston said, via AP. “We still have a long way to go.”
It didn’t have to be this way.
Browns face a huge challenge to make the playoffs
Are you a Browns season ticket holder? Are you a veteran Browns player who doesn’t have many shots left during a deep playoff run? Are you a Browns coach or manager whose job security depends on winning seasons? Maybe you have the right to complain forever about what happened for almost half of this season.
The NFL moves quickly, including for players and coaches. You don’t get that many opportunities to be a playoff team, which Cleveland knows well. The Browns could have been a playoff team with anyone else this season. We saw that last season with Flacco and again on Sunday when the Browns defeated one of the best teams in the NFL. Again, it’s a team that is 5-1 in games started by a professional-level quarterback dating back to last season, when Flacco took over. Would the Browns be 4-4 (or better) if they had pulled the plug on Watson when it became clear in early September that he was beyond repair? Probably.
There is a world where the Browns still make the playoffs. You really have to squint to see it. They are 2-6 after Winston started and the Browns defeated the Baltimore Ravens last week. Assuming 10 wins are needed for a wild card in the tough AFC, that means Cleveland would have to go 8-1 the rest of the way. It’s at least 7-2. That’s a big question.
Winston will have games where he makes terrible mistakes and knocks the Browns out of games. (He almost did this against the Ravens, but Kyle Hamilton dropped an interception.) That’s who he’s always been as an NFL quarterback. But the Browns will be a good team otherwise. They play at play-off level. They did that with Flacco, who was on his bench until November last year. They will do the same with Winston, just like on Sunday.
And that will make it all the more frustrating. There has to be some accountability for a franchise that decided to throw away its season before being forced to make the right move at quarterback.
