3 reasons the Browns are still struggling even with Deshaun Watson

The Cleveland Browns waited 12 weeks to have Deshaun Watson start as their quarterback. Now that he’s here, the team is still struggling.

For the first 11 weeks of the 2022 season, many fans were just waiting for Deshaun Watson to return and be the Cleveland Browns savior. And while there’s still time for him to become that, the struggles still exist on this team.

His first week of playing did result in a win but let’s not forget that special teams and the defense scored three touchdowns in that game and Watson was less than impressive with just over 130 yards passing. He looked substantially better in his second game against the Bengals, but unfortunately, the defense caved and put the team in too big of a hole in the second half.

I don’t think the time to panic is now, but here are three reasons the Browns are still struggling even though Watson is now the starting quarterback.

Browns Reason for Struggling No. 3: Rust

If you are anything like me, the stat of the day vs. the Houston Texans was the 700-plus days that it had been since Watson took a snap as a starting quarterback in the NFL. The Cleveland Browns knew they were inheriting a player who had been shelved up, but I am not sure they expected as much rust as we have seen thus far.

Watson looked extremely uncomfortable in the pocket for most of the game vs. the Texans, and it wasn’t a whole lot better vs. the Bengals. He did improve in getting his feet square in the second game which helped him avoid all the throws that were extremely short like in his first start.

Again, no reason to panic, but at this point, the remainder of the 2022 season should be used to knock off the rust for Watson. Unfortunately, the team has nothing to gain with the Texans owning their first-round pick for the next two years but getting Watson time on the field and seeing some young guys play will be beneficial.