INDIANAPOLIS — Browns coach Kevin Stefanski looked over to see $230 million worth of quarterback in Deshaun Watson lying on the field with a possibly reinjured rotator cuff, and decided he had seen enough.
He pulled his QB1 from the game with 3:04 left in the first quarter and tossed the keys to practice-squader P.J. Walker, and the Browns pulled out an improbable 39-38 come-from-behind victory over the Colts to improve to 4-2.
“Deshaun took that big hit on the shoulder,” Stefanski said. “He cleared concussion protocol, but I just did not want to put him back out there. I wanted to protect our franchise quarterback. That was my decision.”
Heading off speculation about where this is going, Stefanski was quick to declare Watson his man for next week’s game in Seattle — even though he must clear medical hurdles first.
“He’s our starter moving forward,” Stefanski said. “It’s always going to be my decision to protect our players.”
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Watson took the blow to the shoulder after wiggling out of traffic, rolling left and heaving a pass over the middle to Elijah Moore. The Colts’ Kenny Moore II picked it off — it was later ruled an incomplete pass — just as Watson was getting drilled in the shoulder by defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo. Upon impact, he also hit the back of his head hard on the turf.
That was all Stefanski needed to see from a quarterback for whom the Browns surrendered three first-round picks in a trade two offseasons ago with the Texans. The Browns can ill afford to lose their elite QB for the season, especially with so much at stake.
Watson, who went 1 for 5 for 5 yards with one interception for a 0.0 rating, was obviously disappointed on the field about the move, but Stefanski held firm.
“As you guys know, my job is to make tough decisions,” Stefanski said. “I did not want to see him get hit. He was hit hard and I know he cleared all that, but I just thought, ‘I’ve got to protect him.’ ”
Watson acknowledged that he’s not to sure what to expect from the shoulder, which obviously had him grimacing while he was on his back with doctors tending to him.
“I’m praying that it wasn’t anything worse, so that’s all I can do right now,” Watson said. “Just continue to send prayers up and see what happens tomorrow.”
Even Stefanski couldn’t promise no further damage.
“We’ll evaluate all those things like we do, but we’ll see,” he said.
He acknowledged that he wanted to play, but understood the decision. What quarterback wouldn’t want to finish what he started?
“Of course I want to compete; I’m a competitor,” he said. “I want to go out there and try to help the team as much as possible. But the decision was best for the team and they felt that was the best and P.J. did a great job of finishing the game and everyone else played heck of a job to get the win.”
Watson wasn’t sure if he’ll undergo an MRI on Monday, but given the force of the blow and the fall, it’s probably a given.
“I’m not even sure,” said Watson. “I know once I go in tomorrow, I’m just going to follow the protocols and go from there.”
He said he thought pain came from the hit, but he wasn’t even sure about that.
“I haven’t even seen the play,” he said. “Like I said, I got hit and fell backwards. It happened just like that. So once I see it with the team, I’ll have a better answer.”
Watson visited the medical tent after the brief field check, and then emerged and roamed the sideline, hoping to take back over. The Browns trailed 14-7, and Watson had work to do, especially after getting picked off on his second drive on a pass intended for Amari Cooper.
But the “eye in the sky” called down for a concussion check, and the independent neurologist accompanied Watson back to the blue tent.
“The head thing caught me off-guard,” Watson said. “I didn’t know I was getting pulled off for the concussion until I got in the tent. I wasn’t even worried about the head. It was mostly the shoulder.”
Doctors cleared him of a concussion, but Stefanski had no plans of putting him back in harm’s way. On his actual interception, Watson’s 25-yard pass for Moore fell short, just like some of his passes had on his first day back to practice on Thursday.
“Yeah, I didn’t feel that at all,” Stefanski said about a lack of heat on that pass. “No.”
Watson took exception to a suggestion that he was off to a slow start in the game.
“It was only five passes,” he said. “One was a screen, a deep ball that got picked off, another one was the checkdown. Then another one I got hit. So if you want to consider that a slow start, then go ahead. It’s four quarters, so I don’t think anyone can take two or three series and make that a slow start. You’ve got to play 60 minutes.”
Watson stood on the sideline in a parka and beanie for much of the game, cheering on his teammates and helping Walker however he could. But it was hard for him to stand and watch when he felt well enough to play.
“It’s very disappointing,” Watson said. “Of course not for the W. Of course, I’m always going to be happy for the team and us winning, but as far as versus a personal level, of course it’s very disappointing.
“I worked my tail off to get to this moment the last three or four weeks and it came up short. So just right back to the drawing board and it’s part of the game, I guess. You just have to deal with the adversity, but I’m going to keep my head held high, keep grinding and training and being there for my teammates.”
Watson wasn’t sure if he came back to soon. Sunday marked four weeks since he suffered the injury Sept. 24 against the Titans, and it’s a four- to six-week injury. But he had battled so hard and made so much progress, it seemed like the time was right.
“Everything was day to day and we were going off feel and the last two days of practice I was feeling really good and we thought that I was going to be able to finish the game,” Watson said. “But you’ve got to include the physical part of the game and getting hit on and things like that. And it was just one of those play where I got hit going to the ground.”
He said he felt good on Thursday and Friday when he returned to practice for the first time since the injury, but that game speed is different.
“It’s hard to simulate practice in a real live game, so everything in practice is pretty much controlled,” he said. “We felt good going into it and we wanted to come out and test it and I just wasn’t able to finish because of the hit.”
Watson studied the plays on the tablet and offered Walker assistance during the game. He was as happy as anyone when Walker led the Browns on the 80-yard game-winning drive that ended with Kareem Hunt’s 1-yard touchdown run on a fourth and 1 with 15 seconds left.
“He’s the leader of the football team,” Stefanski said of Watson. “He’s a captain, so we always need him. He was a great supporter of P.J. today. Was great on the sidelines. Keeping the guys into it.”
Walker was happy that the Browns kept the train rolling with Watson on the sideline. The victory built on last week’s huge 19-17 win over the 49ers.
“We did a great job as a team battling for him and getting this win for him,” Walker said. “That’s all that matters at the end of the day. We got the win as a group; we got the win as a team.”
Even though Stefanski said Watson “is our starter on Wednesday” when the Browns return to practice if he’s cleared medically, Watson doesn’t know what to expect. Will he really have to go back to square one? Take more time off?
Will he truly start next week in Seattle?
“I’m not sure,” Watson said. “We’ll see.”
