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Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson is carted off the field after suffering an injury during Sunday’s loss to the Bengals. Photograph: Sue Ogrocki/AP
Cleveland’s fanbase came into Sunday’s home Browns-Bengals showdown steeped in feelings. Some of them greeted their own quarterback, Deshaun Watson, with deafening boos as he ran on to the field. If there was any doubt about how many fans feels about Watson, the same crowd showered running back Nick Chubb with cheers at an even higher decibel as he made his return from a lengthy injury layoff.
Watson looks like he is headed for a lengthy period on the sidelines himself: in the second quarter, he went down with what the Browns fear is a torn achilles. Probably out for the season. Possibly the end of Watson’s career – the quarterback’s play has declined and achilles injuries often leave players a shadow of their former selves. As Watson was carted off the field in tears, the feelings in Cleveland were on overdrive. For some, there was catharsis or a feeling that karma had been served. For others, there was legitimate sadness. After all, despite Watson’s dismal performance as Cleveland’s man under center, and the allegations against him as a man, you never want to see someone injured. Although maybe in this case, you do. Some of the Browns fans did: there were scattered cheers when Watson went down injured, a reaction Cleveland cornerback Greg Newsome II later described as “bullshit”.
One feeling that all Browns fans can agree upon is regret. Deep regret. If Browns owner Jimmy Haslam giving Watson $230m in guaranteed money in 2022 wasn’t already the worst contract in NFL history, the achilles injury on Sunday made it official.
Haslam set the gold standard in how not to gift a contract. Not only by the sheer amount of guaranteed money, the most in NFL history, but by handing the franchise to a player who was almost certainly set for a lengthy suspension over those sexual misconduct allegations…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/browns-sad-seedy-deshaun-watson-070009510.html
Author : The Guardian
Publish date : 2024-10-21 07:00:09
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