How Deshaun Watson Outperformed Expectations Vs Jaguars

Watch as Deshaun Watson outperforms expectations against the Jaguars in this exciting game recap. Catch all the highlights and analysis from the Ultimate Cleveland Browns Show Today as we break down Watson's performance and the key moments from the game. Garrett Bush gives you the inside scoop on how Watson led the Browns to victory in this must-watch game recap!

The Browns ran a lot of plays, 65 that counted and 72 including penalties. They used a lot of players in their various offensive packages, in part searching for some answers and in part to keep players fresh in the Jacksonville humidity. The Browns didn’t have a lot of points, scoring only one touchdown, but the offense was much crisper than it was in the season-opening debacle despite again dealing with penalties. Deshaun Watson led a 16-play touchdown drive to open the game, and Cleveland also had two other drives cover at least 12 plays. The Browns converted just 2-of-14 third downs, but they extended drives by going 3-for-3 on fourth-down tries, all with Jameis Winston as the short-yardage quarterback.

All wrinkles and personnel packages were in play. All three of the Browns’ running backs played on the first series. D’Onta Foreman went from playing one snap in the first game to becoming the starter — and closer — in Week 2. Rookie Zak Zinter played 14 snaps as an extra offensive lineman in jumbo packages, and backup center Nick Harris logged 10 snaps as an extra blocker. But the jumbo packages are probably part of the team’s tight end shortage, and David Njoku’s absence played a part in Elijah Moore and Jerry Jeudy combining for 14 targets from Watson. That Moore and Jeudy both mostly delivered was a part of the marked improvement from the passing game.

The Browns have had at least three wide receivers on the field for 86 percent of their snaps through two games. There probably wasn’t a whole lot to take from the Week 1 loss in terms of personnel tendencies because Cleveland spent the last 35-plus minutes playing at a significant deficit, but the game in Jacksonville was more revealing. In Week 2, the Browns were in 11 personnel — one running back, one tight end — on 36 snaps, and they ran 17 plays with Watson alone in an empty formation, per TruMedia. Watson operated out of shotgun on 67.7 percent of snaps.

After the run game contributed little in the opener, the Browns got more production and showed more variety in Jacksonville. Watson ran both by design and to escape pass rushers. Foreman had 14 carries for 42 yards, and though Jerome Ford only got seven carries, he had the biggest gain of the day with a 36-yarder out of a fourth-down jumbo package. The Jaguars got caught in the middle expecting a Winston sneak, and Joel Bitonio and Harris both threw blocks to help Ford find daylight on the edge. On Winston’s second conversion via sneak, he followed a crushing block to Wyatt Teller to just enough daylight.

The obvious pick is Watson’s 1-yard touchdown run to open the scoring. It capped an impressive 89-yard march that took more than nine minutes. On second-and-goal, Watson ran on what appeared to be a designed keeper from the empty set with Harris and Zinter lined up out wide. Utilizing Watson as a weapon in the run game, at least on occasion, can help the Browns keep defenses guessing.

His best throw of the day came in the fourth quarter with the Browns facing first-and-15 with 5:40 to go. On a day when Watson mostly threw short, this was a 30-yard route to Jeudy off a play-action fake. The ball was on time and almost perfectly placed, and Jeudy secured it along the Browns’ sideline. Watson’s average depth of target for the day was just 6.7 yards, per the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, but that deep throw was his best of the season. Watson and Jeudy hooked up twice along the other sideline for key conversions — one early and one on the play following the 30-yarder — on plays that were improvised. Part of the Browns wanting Jeudy was because of his ability to accelerate and adjust on those scramble drill-type plays. Through two games we’re seeing that vision come to life.

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