Despite a dismal season-opening performance, Cleveland Browns coach Todd Monken is sticking with Deshaun Watson as his starting quarterback for Week 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"I anticipate Deshaun will be our starter," Monken said Monday.
Watson finished 16-of-22 passing for 205 yards with a first-drive interception and a final-drive 46-yard touchdown pass in a depressing 34-10 road loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The first-year head coach noted that it'd been 693 days since Watson last started, after he missed most of 2024 and all of 2025 due to multiple Achilles injuries.
"Oh, for sure, and it's only been two weeks he's gotten all the reps," Monken said. "There were some really good things on film, some things that you can build on. And there were some others that operationally we've got to get better at. There's concepts that... There's only so many looks you get from week to week, be it red zone concepts, third down concepts, and I did think that when he had time, when he understood the concepts, he didn't play tentative, that he lit it rip. Even the touchdown at the end -- sure, that was garbage time, but that was on their [No.] 1 corner. That was one of their starters out there. That was a communication between him and the receiver.
"So there was a lot of things to build on. It wasn't perfect, of course not. Otherwise, we wouldn't have scored as few points as we did, but I'd like to see how we can build on that. I liked his week of practice last week, and I think he's only going to continue to get better."
Monken can sugarcoat Sunday's rotten performance from his club any way he'd like. The reality is no one played well in the blowout loss, starting with the quarterback. Perhaps the long time off played a role, but even before the litany of injuries, Watson was one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL. Nothing changed Sunday.
The 31-year-old threw a rookie-level INT on the opening drive, conducted an offense that couldn't get in and out of the huddle cleanly, had far too many mental miscues, struggled with pressure and barely threatened the Jags D. In the first half, Watson threw for a measly 75 yards with an INT, as the Browns trailed 24-0. The entire second half was basically garbage time.
Monken said the film validated Watson getting another shot under center and highlighted that the entire team must play better.
"It confirmed it when I looked at the tape," he said. "We've got to play better around him, we've got to call it better, and he's got to play better.
"Our inability to function consistently as an offense was a byproduct of 'we,' coaching and playing."
The reality for the Browns' new coach is that, barring some miraculous turnaround in Tampa, Cleveland fans won't be a welcoming hoard for Watson in Week 3. He's destined to hear louder boos than those that got under his skin in the preseason.
From the moment Watson was named the starter, it felt like an untenable situation. Sunday's performance did nothing to change that perception. Monken seems to be hoping a trip to Tampa can.
