Sports
Deshaun Watson got trampled by the Cowboys, but please don’t blame the protection
CLEVELAND — How long? How much longer do Browns fans have to wait to see the quarterback they were promised?
We’re into Year 3 of the Deshaun Watson Experience and the first lap around the track didn’t feel any differently. Is it too late to speak to a manager and request a refund?
It’s supposed to be different this year. He’s healthy now. The suspension is long behind him. The offense has been rebuilt to suit his strengths. The Browns have overhauled their entire operation to make him more comfortable.
Success can still happen. It’s only one game and this offense had little time together in the preseason and training camp. That was evident during Sunday’s 33-17 embarrassment at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys.
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Browns show they’re not ready for big stage in lopsided loss to Cowboys
Watson should’ve played at some point in the preseason. That’s an organizational failure. It was 300 days from his broken shoulder last season until Sunday’s opener. We’ve been through this before with Watson and long layoffs. We know how it ends by now.
It may not have made a difference in Sunday’s outcome, but it’s impossible to watch the Browns’ first game and believe they were ready for the start of the season. They weren’t. Whether they’ll be ready for the start of the season by Week 2 is debatable at this point.
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But the bulk of this mess belongs to the quarterback. His minus-0.36 EPA/play was tied for second-worst on Sunday. Yes, there were far too many drops by his receivers, but his expected completion percentage was still less than 64 percent. That was fourth-worst for Week 1 entering Sunday night’s game.
If we’re being honest, this rebuilt offense had a “the orange is oranger” type of feel to it. Nothing really looked much different from what we’ve seen previously other than a deeper disdain to run the ball. There were only a handful of RPO calls and at least one of them was negated by penalty. Watson was still under center for a decent amount of time.
Watson was hit 17 times and sacked six. The 17 hits were easily the most of any quarterback in Week 1. But the one narrative we can’t have this week, the one talking point I won’t stand for is that Watson was hit too much because his protection broke down and he didn’t have enough time to throw. It’s a lazy assumption based on the statistics and the most outrageous lie you’ll hear all week. It is categorically false. Even Browns coach Kevin Stefanski has been duped.
“He got hit way too often,” Stefanski said. “We can’t let that happen to him. … We have to protect our quarterback better than that.”
Or, and hear me out, the quarterback has to protect himself better than that.
Dallas’ defense blitzed on one-fourth of its snaps, which was fairly average compared to other Week 1 teams. Here are the important numbers to know, according to a deep dive on data provided by TruMedia and PFF. All of the league-wide rankings are through all Week 1 games before Monday night.
• Watson averaged 4.16 seconds to throw per pressured dropback Sunday, the eighth-best time under pressure. On sacks that resulted from pressure, he held the ball for 4.29 seconds, the sixth-best time in Week 1.
• On the six sacks he did take, his average time to throw was 4.87 seconds — which ranked 10th.
• Since he joined the Browns in 2022, Watson has been the slowest from snap to throw on pressured dropbacks of any quarterback across the league (4.60 seconds). Tom Brady, who coincidentally called the game for Fox, was the fastest at 3.26 seconds.
Part of what has made Watson great throughout his career is his ability to hold the ball and extend plays. It’s disingenuous to then turn around and blame his line for protection breakdowns when they are giving him more time to throw against pressure than any other offensive line in the NFL the past two-plus seasons.
This isn’t a protection issue. It’s a Watson issue.
There were costly procedure and false start penalties Sunday on both of the Browns’ starting tackles. That has to get cleaned up. But there was at least one sack that occurred because Watson was standing where he wasn’t expected to be so the protection wasn’t angled that way.
It’s rhythm and timing issues. It’s “feel” issues. It just doesn’t seem like he’s seeing the field well. Or he’s not processing what he’s seeing.
There were receivers open down the field Sunday, Watson was just busy throwing the ball 7 yards out of bounds on sideline routes and fade routes into the end zone.
Here’s the best throw Deshaun Watson made yesterday. Hit CeeDee in stride.
Baller.#Brownspic.twitter.com/ifwtAlyzio
— Ed Greenberger (@EdGreenberger) September 9, 2024
It was awful. It was worse than awful. It was some of the worst quarterback play in the league during Week 1.
Forty-five minutes after Sunday’s game ended, while most players had showered and long departed the locker room, Watson was still unshowered wearing stained football pants and chatting with backup quarterback Jameis Winston.
It was an emotional few days for Watson, whose father died this week. He was estranged from his father for most of his life, according to a Houston Chronicle story in 2017. But navigating grief is never easy.
“I’m not going to use that as an excuse for why we played bad, but it was a heavy heart these last couple of days,” Watson said. “But again, I don’t want to use that as an excuse.”
Stefanski and the Browns have done everything they can to make Watson more comfortable in this offense. As Year 3 begins, the organization is holding on tight, patiently waiting for its $230 million gamble to show a proper return on its bold investment.
How long? How much longer will they have to wait?
GO DEEPER
NFL Week 1 takeaways: Cowboys’ talent overwhelms, Harbaugh’s formula works, Caleb Williams shaky
(Photo of Deshaun Watson getting hit by Micah Parsons: Nick Cammett / Getty Images)
Sports
‘Demon’ Finn Balor settles score with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio were once brothers in arms in the Judgment Day. The two helped the faction run “Monday Night Raw” for several years.
As championships and opportunities came and went, the rift between Balor and Mysterio grew. It came to a head when Balor caused Mysterio to lose the Intercontinental Championship to Penta. Balor leaving the Judgment Day left Mysterio and Liv Morgan as the leaders with JD McDonagh, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez sticking around.
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The latter four chose to ride with Mysterio and attacked Balor on one episode of Raw.
The bitter war led to a match Sunday night at WrestleMania 42. To make matters more interesting, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made the match a street fight hours before the show was set to begin.
Balor had vowed to bring the “Demon” out and he certainly did.
JACOB FATU PUTS DREW MCINTYRE IN THE ‘REAR VIEW’ IN UNSANCTIONED MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA 42
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Balor made his way to the ring in his “Demon” gear, dripping with red and black paint. Mysterio was in a mask with other Mysterio supporters.
The two then proceeded to beat the crud out of each other.
Mysterio wrapped Balor’s head in between a chair and hit a 619 on him. He tried to pin Balor, but to no avail. At another point, Mysterio tossed Balor through a table set up in the corner.
As many have learned, it’s hard to keep your demons down. Mysterio learned the hard way.
Balor would not give up. Balor clotheslined Mysterio, hit him with a chair multiple times before wrapping his head in between the chair and drop-kicking him into the corner. Balor put Mysterio onto a table and hit the Coup de Grâce for the win.
Dominik Mysterio is introduced before his match against Finn Balor during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Balor excised his own demons, while Mysterio is still haunted.
Sports
Ryan Ward has a solid debut, but bullpen blows it again as Dodgers lose to Rockies
DENVER — What do you know? The once-stampeding Dodgers have been caged by the Colorado Rockies.
With a 9-6 loss Sunday at Coors Field, the two-time defending World Series champions lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Dodgers again couldn’t hold a lead, letting the Rockies tee off for 15 hits.
Nor could the Dodgers keep up offensively at the hitter-friendly park — though they put some pressure on in the ninth inning, when Shohei Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and the Dodgers scored twice to cut the lead to three runs. Then the new guy, Ryan Ward, made the final out in his big league debut, robbed of a hit and a chance to keep chipping away by a diving Troy Johnston in right field.
Before that, the Rockies — who beat the Dodgers twice in 13 meetings all of last season — chased starter Roki Sasaki from the game in the fifth inning and then ruffled the Dodgers’ relievers. That included closer Edwin Díaz, who came on in the eighth and promptly gave up three singles, a walk and two runs before being pulled with the Dodgers trailing 8-4.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki gave up three runs on seven hits in 4-2/3 innings Sunday against the Rockies in Denver.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
He and Blake Treinen combined to face eight batters without getting an out.
“They both weren’t sharp,” said manager Dave Roberts, who had theories but not many answers — though he did have real concern, especially about Díaz, who recently had his right knee checked out by the medical staff.
Roberts said the closer wanted to pitch after nine days off, even though it wasn’t a save situation. But his velocity was slightly down (95.4 mph vs. 95.8) and so, “today was a tough evaluation,” the manager said.
“It really was,” Roberts said. “Because, you know, I know what it’s supposed to look like, and when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning, really.”
And losing for the second time to the Rockies, who are now 9-13? Being in danger of losing their four-game series, after arriving in Denver without having lost to a National League opponent, against a club that hasn’t made the postseason since 2018?
It’s well below the bar the Dodgers have set, and it added a bitter note to Ward’s otherwise sweet debut.
Ward punched a big league clock for the first time wearing No. 67 and cranked his first hit off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen in the fourth inning, lining a changeup to right field for a single that scored Andy Pages, made it 3-0 and got the 20-some members of Ward’s party up, jumping in place, hugging and high-fiving.
“When I was on first base, I got to see them all jumping around up there,” Ward said. “That was a pretty special moment.”
He also singled in the sixth and swung on the first pitch in his first at-bat, a fly out in the third inning.
The Dodgers gave Sasaki a 2-0 lead in the third. Alex Freeland drove in Hyeseong Kim, and Shohei Ohtani doubled in Freeland — and extended his career-best on-base streak to 51 games, moving past Willie Keeler into third place in Dodgers history.
Sasaki went 4-2/3 innings, threw 78 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking two. His ERA after his fourth start: 6.11, worst in the six-man rotation.
The Dodgers fell behind 6-5 in the seventh when Treinen — who was cleared Friday after he was struck in the head by a batted ball during batting practice — gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run by Mickey Moniak.
The result likely will be a minor detail when Ward tells the story years from now about getting the call after first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list.
The Dodgers’ No. 19 prospect and reigning Pacific Coast League MVP spent the last seven years in the minors. Last season, he hit 36 home runs and drove in 122 runs with a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for triple-A Oklahoma City, and he has a 1.020 OPS and four homers this year.
Ward made it a point to improve his chase rate, draw more walks and get on base more frequently, everything the Dodgers asked of him. He also passed the broadest patience test.
“The plate discipline, being a better hitter … he’s done all that,” Roberts said. “He’s improved his defense. But honestly, for me, just not to let his lack of opportunity in the big leagues deter him. That’s easy when you get frustrated and let it affect performance, and he hasn’t done that.”
If anything, Ward said, the waiting made him better.
“I used it to keep going. ‘OK, if I’m not there yet, what do I have to do to get there?’” he said. “‘What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?’
“I used it as fire to keep working.”
That will be the Dodgers’ assignment too.
In the finale of the four-game series Monday, the Dodgers are expected to start left-hander Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12) against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63).
Sports
ESPN’s Stephen A Smith hears boos from WrestleMania 42 crowd
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
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