Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson is done for the season after suffering an Achilles injury against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, October 20.
Some ugliness ensued, as several Browns fans cheered while the team’s training staff carted Watson off of the field and into the locker room. However, Watson was the beneficiary of a good deal of support from his teammates following the game, as well as from his girlfriend Jilly Anais.
Anais took to Instagram following the events, posting a photo of herself and Watson kissing on the field at Browns stadium.
“His #1 fan ❤️🤞,” Anais captioned the photo.
Watson finished the day 15-of-17 passing for 128 yards. Both Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Jameis Winston played in relief of Watson, and one of the two is likely to start next weekend against the Baltimore Ravens.
Browns Players Call Out Fans for Classless Cheering of Deshaun Watson Injury
Ben Baby, who covers the Bengals for ESPN, reported via social media on Sunday that large swaths of the home crowd were cheering as medical staffers carted the QB off the field.
“Fans at Huntington Bank Stadium in Cleveland cheered when Deshaun Watson went down,” Baby wrote in an X post. “There were a couple of Browns fans near the press box who were urging those in their section to be cheering louder when Deshaun Watson went down.”
Following the game, defensive end Myles Garrett excoriated the Browns fans who took part in the celebration of what turned out to be the end of Watson’s season.
“Whether it’s an opponent or one of our own, we don’t boo guys who are injured on the field,” Garrett said during his postgame press conference. “We should be ashamed of ourselves.”
Browns Have Decisions to Make at QB Going Forward
The players of the now 1-6 Browns should arguably also be ashamed of themselves, as they are all but out of the playoff race — even though that isn’t a mathematical reality just yet after the team’s fifth consecutive loss.
It is unclear who will take Watson’s spot under center next week against the Ravens based on how Sunday’s game played out. Ahead of the contest, Cleveland swapped Thompson-Robinson from third string to the backup position, moving Winston down from the No. 2 role into the slot of emergency QB.
“Yeah, kind of went into the season thinking both those guys were the number two and felt like with some of the packages that we had up today, didn’t have really Jameis in the short yardage that we’ve had up before, so felt like it was the right thing for this game,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said of the decision to elevate the second-year QB.
However, Thompson-Robinson chucked 2 interceptions before the coaching staff yanked him in favor of Winston. The Browns scored a TD with Winston on the field, ultimately losing to the Bengals by a score of 21-14.
Cleveland is likely to add another QB to the roster at some point this week. However, the most probable outcome is that the team makes a simple play for depth rather than looks to sign a starter more capable than the two QBs currently on the roster.
