The End Has Begun

 

Holy mother of fuck.  It's over.  It's week 5 and the team has given up on Watson.  The season is over and the leaves haven't even changed.  Now, I don't know if the organization has realized where we're at, but the guys in the locker room are o-u-t.  By the early second quarter you could read the body language.  "We can't win a game with this guy."  The look of the players is that same dead eyed look of a kid working the grill at a Mr. Hero.  It's that look of being resigned to whatever indignity is coming your way, but you can punch out in a few hours and go home to smoke a pound of weed to make it all go away.  "Fuck this.  I just work here."  The guys in the Browns locker room knew back in August that they had no chance of winning with Watson.  They just didn't say it publicly.  In retrospect there was none of the chatter you'd expect from a 2023 playoff team.  At this point for the majority of the Browns, it's just about distancing yourself from the stench of Watson.   

This is the worst part about following the Browns.  While other people around the country debate the real possibility of their competitive teams winning close games to get into the playoffs, Browns fans now have to ask themselves "Should I go to that shitty corn maze pumpkin patch klusterfuck with the kids or waste three hours watching this shit team inevitably lose in utter boring fashion?'.  While everyone else has game day parties, you are looking straight at the possibility of chugging down cider in a corn maze.  Who's fault it that?  I'll tell you what, I'm looking for a scapegoat.

That game was over in the first half.  Washington going into this game had given up the third most points in the league.  It was the 28th ranked defense overall.  At halftime the Browns had three first downs, 67 net yards and were 0-8 in third down conversion.  I think Kent State had similar stats when they played Penn State, which is a tough comparison as I heard Kent referred to by an elderly college football handicapper as "the worst D1 football team I've seen in my career".  This is where the Browns are now.  I think objectively this team can be looked at as probably #30 in the 32 team league.  On a neutral field, who are they favored over?  New England?  Carolina?  

They have to cut Watson loose.  You know it.  I know it.  The Browns know it.  The big question is how.  If the Haslams weren't carpetbagging truck stop grifters and instead were Russian oligarchs, they'd book Watson onto a commercial flight and have it suffer an "unfortunate mechanical malfunction", crashing into a field outside Mansfield.  Sure, there would be 100+ innocent people killed, but what's a little collateral damage when we are talking about getting the team on track?  There is another option of course...   End this thing.

How much longer do you trot Watson out there?  What is absolutely brutal is to watch all the spurned Browns personnel thriving elsewhere.  Flacco tossed 359 yards and 3 TDs against Jacksonville.  Mayfield had three TD on TH night.  A child flipping through the channels looking at the other teams would immediately say, "How come that sex predator in the ugly orange helmet sucks so bad?".  The fact is that the team cannot and will not win with Watson.  The Haslams, who orchestrated this fiasco, are the only ones that can end it.  You think Stefanski can bench Watson without a tense three hour meeting in Berea?  No way.  That's an organizational decision.  It really becomes a question how much longer the Haslams want to keep tossing good money after bad.  It's obvious at this point that it's not that Watson is "rusty" or whatever bullshit excuse you want to toss out there.  He just can't do it.  He got paid, cashed the checks, and checked out.  Football to Watson is an annoying thing he has to do on the weekend, like sweeping out the garage.  The organization has to take the pain and eat a $250M shit sandwich.  Watson is done as an NFL player.  He will never be a starter in the NFL after he leaves Cleveland.  

This is not to suggest that the offense would be clicking by dropping in a random QB.  The offensive line is horrible.  The Browns have maybe the worst running backs starting since that fabled Terry Kirby/Karim Abdul Jabbar backfield in 1999.  If you need something to focus on as any of the random Browns plays fall apart, watch Jerome Ford miss blocks in pass protection.  I like saying "Jesus fuck that guy doesn't know what he's doing", but I'm sure you'll come up with your own catchy slogans.  I think of Jerome Ford like Gary Cherone.  Like, you remember Gary Cherone was in Van Halen, but it doesn't really count.  That, of course, makes the 2024 Browns season our Van Halen 3.  

So at this point the defense has quit.  Amari Cooper visibly rolls his eyes after Watson holds the ball too long and takes a sack while he was wide open.  Jeudy can be counted on to have one thud off his chest.  Stefanski actually showed emotion when Watson trudged off the field instead of not running a play on that mysterious 4th and goal before the half.  Was it just me or was that the most fucked up thing you've seen in pro football?  Watson looked as engaged as I was when I had to collect Kroger shopping carts in the rain as a 19 year old.  How much worse does it have to get before the Grifters agree on a Fall Guy and we cut Watson loose so he can slither out of our consciousness?  I would like to not have to look at Deshaun Watson ever again.

While I think we can all agree that the Haslams engineered Watson to Cleveland, there is no way in hell they will stand up for accountability and say, "Yeah, we fucked up.".  They don't have a history of being a real "stand up family".  Andrew Berry will probably pay the price.  I'm sure the entire front office knew they should re-sign Flacco, but couldn't due to the inevitable blowback to Watson.  Berry is probably going to go and the whole thing will get blown up.  Again.  This team is going to finish 4-13 or maybe worse if they keep tossing Watson out there.  Quick note of encouragement to anyone aged 60+ or with a medical condition... You will NEVER see the Browns win a Super Bowl.   The season is over and you don't even need your rake yet.  It all feels so familiar.  Smells like 2015 out there, doesn't it?  Welcome back to your comfort zone Browns fans.  The Draft is only seven months away.  Here we go Brownies, here we go.  Woof.  Woof.

Go Browns.