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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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?
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(Photo of Deshaun Watson getting hit by Micah Parsons: Nick Cammett / Getty Images)
Sports
LIV Golf stars commit to staying put after Brooks Koepka’s departure, return to PGA Tour
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Brooks Koepka may have returned to the PGA Tour following a stint at LIV Golf, but do not expect the Saudi-backed league’s other biggest stars to join in.
Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith all committed to staying put when speaking to reporters on Tuesday at a preseason press conference.
“I had no idea, no idea that that would happen.” DeChambeau said. “No idea what the penalties would even be. Right now, I’ve got a contract. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do at LIV Golf this year.”
Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm walk to the eighth green during the first round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club on June 2, 2022. (Adam Cairns/The Columbus Dispatch)
“I made a decision to come out here and spend more time at home, and I’m not giving that away. I’ll be on LIV for years to come,” added Smith, who won the 2022 Open Championship shortly before officially committing to LIV.
DeChambeau and Smith each left in 2022, but Rahm was perhaps the biggest surprise. Once very outspoken against LIV, he joined the league in December 2023.
In August 2024, he shut down rumors of buyer’s remorse to Fox News Digital, and that still appears to be the case.
“I’m not planning on going anywhere. Very similar answer to what Bryson gave. I wish Brooks the best. As far as I’m concerned, I’m focused on the league and my team this year, and hopefully we can repeat as champions again,” Rahm said.
Koepka’s decision came weeks after he revealed he would be leaving the rival series.
“I want to thank my family and my team for their continued support throughout every step of my professional career,” he wrote on social media. “When I was a child, I always dreamed about competing on the @PGATOUR, and I am just as excited today to announce that I am returning to the PGA TOUR. Being closer to home and spending more time with my family makes this opportunity especially meaningful to me.
Brooks Koepka, of the United States, acknowledges the crowd on the 5th green during the first round of the British Open golf championship at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland, July 17, 2025. (Peter Morrison, File/AP Photo)
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“I believe in where the PGA TOUR is headed with new leadership, new investors, and an equity program that gives players a meaningful ownership stake,” he continued. “I also understand there are financial penalties associated with this decision, and I accept those.”
Koepka said he planned to be at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Waste Management Phoenix Open in the coming weeks.
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said Koepka’s return sparked the Returning Member Program for those who left the company and may decide to follow in Koepka’s footsteps.
Rolapp said Koepka agreed to a few conditions upon his return to the PGA Tour. It included a “five-year forfeiture of potential equity in the PGA Tour’s Player Equity Program, representing one of the largest financial repercussions in professional sports history, with estimations that he could miss out on approximately $50–85 million in potential earnings, depending on his competitive performance and the growth of the Tour,” according to Rolapp. Koepka will also make a $5 million charitable donation to an organization yet to be determined.
Brooks Koepka during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow. (Aaron Doster/Imagn Images)
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Koepka became the first person to return to the PGA Tour after defecting for LIV.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
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Sports
Luka Doncic plays and scores 27 points as the Lakers rout the Hawks
Luka Doncic and LeBron James were listed as questionable for the Lakers’ back-to-back game Tuesday night against the Atlanta Hawks. Doncic because of left groin soreness, James because of left foot joint arthritis and right sciatica.
Also, checking the stat sheet before the game, the Lakers were listed as one of the worst three-point shooting teams and one of the worst defensive shooting percentage teams in the league.
Well, Luka played and LeBron played and the Lakers shot lights-out from three-point range and were solid across the board on defense while i rolling over the Hawks 141-116 at Crypto.com Arena.
Doncic felt soreness in his groin when the Lakers played at Sacramento on Monday night and was unsure about playing Tuesday. But he played and delivered 27 points, 12 assists and five rebounds.
James didn’t play in the second game of a back-to-back game last week at New Orleans and San Antonio and said he will be listed as TBD, to be determined, in such scenarios. But James played against the Hawks and nearly produced a triple-double with 31 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.
Coming into the game, opponents were shooting 48.8% from the field and 37.4% from three against the Lakers, ranking them 28th and 26th, respectively, in the NBA.
The Hawks began the game ranked fourth in three-point shooting, making 37.4%, and they were ranked eighth in field-goal percentage, making 43.6%.
All of the above made for a bad recipe for the Lakers entering the game.
But when the game started, none of that mattered to the Lakers, who held the Hawks to 45% shooting and 28.3% from three-point range.
The Lakers shot 55.9% (19 for 34) from three-point range.
The Lakers’ big lead was sliced to 11 points in the fourth.
But back-to-back three-pointers by James and Marcus Smart, both off passes from Doncic, and a Doncic basket gave them a 19-point lead, and they never looked back.
The Lakers scored 81 points in the first half, a season-high for points in a half, a half in which they opened a 23-point lead and had the Hawks reeling from the beginning.
Doncic missed just one of his six three-pointers in the first half. Gabe Vincent came off the bench and missed just one of his four three-pointers in the first half.
Rui Hachimura had missed the previous seven games with a right calf strain but was back in action against the Hawks. He had seven points and two rebounds in 18 minutes.
ETC: The Lakers signed guard Kobe Bufkin to a 10-day contract Tuesday. The 6-foot-5 Bufkin played in seven games for the South Bay Lakers, the Lakers’ G League team, where he averaged 28.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists over seven games. He has appeared in 27 career NBA games over two seasons with the Hawks. “You know, during the stretch, we’ll have opportunities during this 10-day,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said…. Backup center Jaxson Hayes didn’t play against the Hawks because of left hamstring soreness. Redick said Hayes got some “imaging” Tuesday on his injury and that the Lakers will have “more information” going forward.
Sports
Mike Tomlin stepping down as Steelers head coach: reports
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Mike Tomlin is stepping down as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to multiple reports.
Tomlin’s decision on Tuesday came after a blowout loss against the Houston Texans in the AFC Wild Card Round of the playoffs. It marked the Steelers’ seventh straight postseason defeat.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
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