Deshaun Watson threw for 268 yards and a touchdown Thursday night, and once again it was the fourth quarter where things actually got decided. Cleveland beat Pittsburgh 27-24 on a late go-ahead drive, Watson's third in as many weeks. For a guy who spent most of the offseason getting picked apart in the media, that's starting to look like more than a coincidence.
He completed enough of his 33 attempts to march the offense 36 yards into field goal range on the winning drive, hitting KC Concepcion, Jerry Jeudy and Harold Fannin Jr. along the way. Cleveland's defense helped plenty too, five sacks and two turnovers, a season high. But it was Watson answering Pittsburgh's late touchdown that actually closed this one out.
Back in August, none of this looked likely. Watson and rookie Shedeur Sanders were splitting first-team reps all through camp, both listed with an "OR" next to their names on the depth chart deep into preseason. At one point Watson reportedly threw six interceptions across just four practices, the kind of stat line that gets scouts and ex-players openly questioning whether he should even be starting.
When Cleveland went with Watson for Week 1 anyway, the response wasn't warm. Ryan Fitzpatrick took a shot at the decision. Analysts wondered out loud if the Browns had made a mistake. Watson said at the time he didn't really "care" if fans booed him in preseason, which, as it turned out, was a pretty accurate read of what was coming his way.
The timing made everything harder. Two days before Cleveland opened against Dallas, Watson posted on Instagram that his father, Don Richardson, had died. The two hadn't been close for most of Watson's life. Richardson left when Watson was a kid, and Watson's said before that he barely remembers seeing him growing up in Gainesville, Georgia.
He played the opener anyway. Threw an interception five snaps in. Not exactly the start anyone wanted, on or off the field.
Week 3 is where it flipped. Carolina had Cleveland down 12-10 in the fourth quarter, and Watson led the offense back, two touchdown passes plus a two-point conversion to finish the comeback. The same crowd that had been booing him turned it into "Let's go Watson" chants by the end. Browns won 21-18, moved to 2-1.
That game seems to have changed something real. He followed it with Thursday's win over Pittsburgh, making it three straight weeks of clutch, late-game drives. People are already throwing around comeback-story comparisons, even though it's still early days.
Worth remembering why this story means as much as it does to people. Watson's played just 12 games total since 2020, a stretch that includes a 2021 holdout from Houston after he got fed up with how the franchise was being run, and a 2022 suspension tied to multiple sexual misconduct accusations from massage therapists, which he settled through a mix of lawsuits and NFL discipline. He signed with Cleveland that same year on one of the largest fully guaranteed contracts in league history, and has mostly struggled to live up to it since, including a torn Achilles that wiped out most of his 2024 season.
That history doesn't just go away because of three good weeks. It's actually part of why this stretch, modest as the numbers still are, has turned into such a genuine talking point in Cleveland instead of just another quarterback having a decent month.
Cleveland's 3-1 now, with real signs their defense has improved over the last two games, according to offensive coordinator Todd Monken. Watson, bit by bit, is building a case that the starting job he barely held onto in August might've actually been the right call, at least so far.
Monken's been careful not to oversell any of it, saying Watson is "still clearly a work in progress" in this offense, even while acknowledging he's found a firmer grip on the starting role heading into divisional matchups. That feels like the honest read. Watson hasn't suddenly become an elite quarterback again. He's just been good when his team genuinely needed him to be, three weeks running.
The real question is whether this holds up once the schedule gets tougher, and whether Cleveland's hot start means anything by December. For now, a guy who spent the whole offseason fighting to keep his job has strung together the best three weeks of football he's played in years. Whether that turns into a full season or just a good month is still wide open.
