When the Cleveland Browns named Deshaun Watson as their starting quarterback for the 2026 season, just about everyone in the football world was quick to criticize the decision.
Critics argued that Watson wasn’t good anymore, and that putting him in the lineup wouldn’t benefit the future of the franchise. It also didn’t help that the veteran quarterback seemed out of touch with reality whenever he got in front of a microphone.
However, Browns head coach Todd Monken believed in Watson and delivered one simple message regarding the public perception around the quarterback: win games and things will change. Sure enough, just three weeks into the season, that’s exactly what’s happening.
The Browns have won their last two games, improving to 2-1 on the season, and Watson came through clutch with some timely plays in both of the wins. Many of the fans and media members who criticized the decision to start Watson are now praising the quarterback for playing good football.
However, while Watson has been better than expected, he hasn’t necessarily been as good as the praise he’s starting to get from national media. That’s why the Thursday Night Football game between the Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers will be huge for Watson’s evolving reputation.
With the entire football world set to be locked in on the primetime action, this will be many people’s first look at the full picture of Deshaun Watson. What they see could define how they talk about him for the rest of the season.
Deshaun Watson’s performance on Thursday Night Football will have massive implications on how he’s viewed
As often the case in sports, winning helps to get people on your side. Watson, coming off back-to-back wins with the Browns, is experiencing that right now. After people started the year by counting down to when he’d be replaced by Shedeur Sanders, national media members are now saying things like Watson is playing like a top-10 quarterback, or that he’s balling like a top quarterback, and looking like the guy who dominated the league in Houston.
Spoiler alert: very few national pundits are watching full Browns games on Sunday. For the most part, these narratives are being crafted from the results of games, the highlights, and the box score. Seeing Cleveland win two straight games, and that Watson made big plays at the end of both, is how we get to the aforementioned narratives about him being back.
However, what the people making those comments don’t see is how much Watson is still struggling on a snap-to-snap basis. They don’t see the quarterback missing easy throws, not identifying open receivers, throwing the ball straight to defenders who can’t catch, and occasionally running into pressure. If they did, they would acknowledge that Watson is better than expected, but still very much a work in progress, and nowhere near the Houston version of himself that some considered the best quarterback in football.
On Thursday, everyone will see everything, and that could be good or bad for Watson. If he plays the kind of inconsistent game that he has been playing all season, people will likely pump the brakes on the praise that’s being heaped his way.
However, if Watson can go out and play his best game of the season and secure a third straight win, the narrative shift on Watson would be a runaway train.
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