Weather or not, Deshaun Watson makes home debut with Browns against Ravens

CLEVELAND — Deshaun Watson's last game in Cleveland was quite the weather event.

"Yeah, that was crazy," Watson recalled this week. "That was something I wasn't nowhere close to expecting and wasn't used to. So, yeah, it was like five different weather changes in an hour, so it was pretty nuts."

At the time, Nov. 15, 2020, Watson was the Houston Texans' starting quarterback. Right before the teams were to kick off, rain, wind, hail and thunder descended upon the stadium, forcing a 35-minute delay.

When the teams returned, they played in 51-degree temperatures and a 26 mph wind that made throwing the football an adventure. Watson was 20-of-30 passing for 163 yards and a touchdown, but the Browns won the game 10-7.

On Saturday against the Baltimore Ravens (9-4), Watson makes his first start in Cleveland since then. This time, he'll be doing so as the Browns' starting quarterback, having been acquired in a trade on March 18 from Houston.

Watson's 11-game suspension due to more than two dozen allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct in massage appointments made him wait until the Browns' next-to-last home game to finally make his home debut. Nevertheless, that debut has now arrived.

“My mindset, I'm very excited," Watson said. "This is something that is the reason why I picked to come to Cleveland is to play in front of the best fans in the world. And I've been hearing things, I've been seeing it on TV. I've been seeing it from afar from different players and guys that's new to this team this year, also just like myself, what they talk about and the experience. I'm looking forward to being able to play in front of them.”

Oh, and playing in the weather. Temperatures are expected to be in the mid-to-low 30s for the duration of the game, under cloudy skies and with winds measuring in the mid-teens.

Last Sunday in Cincinnati, the game kicked off at 1 p.m. in 48-degree temperatures with winds less than 10 mph. This time, the game will be kicking off as the sun descends at 4:30 p.m.

"I'd be crazy if I sat up here and said it's not a challenge," Watson said. "But, not just for me but it's for the opponent also. Baltimore gotta come in and deal with the same weather as we do, so we just gotta go out there and just put the weather to the side and just try to make as many plays as we can."

Why is the weather for Watson's first home game as a Browns quarterback important? Because it was obvious in March the weather was a concern for the quarterback himself in ultimately deciding to accept a trade to Cleveland.

Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam acknowledged at the spring meetings that the wild weather Watson went through that day in 2020 played a role in him initially rejecting a deal with the Browns. Ultimately, with a help of a fully guaranteed five-year, $230-million contract, he changed his mind.

Watson's tune has changed at bit in the months between his arrival in Cleveland and his first game in the city as the Browns quarterback.

"My main focus was what's the best situation for me and what's the best situation for the organization to win a Super Bowl," Watson said. "And I felt like Cleveland was the best situation. That's something that he asked me, for sure, but I told him at the end of the day it's football. You can get any weather in any situation other than playing in a dome. But for me, my main focus was just, what is the locker room, what is the organization, how can we go win a Super Bowl. And that was my main focus and that's why I chose Cleveland."

The Browns team Watson will lead in his first home start has seen its Super Bowl aspirations for the season essentially dashed. Part of that was due to their 4-7 record during his suspension, despite a solid effort in his absence by Jacoby Brissett.

However, the loss to the Bengals last Sunday dropped the Browns to 5-8 and put them four games behind Cincinnati and Baltimore in the AFC North. What hurts just as bad is that they're 12th in the overall AFC playoff picture, with the six-loss New England Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers and New York Jets — all of whom beat the Browns in Cleveland this season — and the eight-loss Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders all in front of them in the battle for the final wild card spot.

"Just trying to improve each and every day, and that's my mindset," Watson said. "I can't control how the rankings and status are. The only thing I can control is try to win it on Sunday. So if we can win, well Saturday the next two weeks and finish out the season strong, then who knows what can happen. And if we make it or not, that's something that we just gotta let how things play out."

Matchup to watch: Ravens QB Tyler Huntley vs. Browns defense

There's no sense narrowing this down to a one-on-one matchup. That's because this won't be a one-on-one matchup, especially if the Browns hope to prevent Huntley from having a big day.

The week started with questions about whether Huntley — the backup to the injured Lamar Jackson — would start or if it would be No. 3 quarterback Anthony Brown, who finished last Sunday's game in Pittsburgh after Huntley sustained a concussion. However, Baltimore essentially announced on Thursday that Huntley, who had cleared the concussion protocol on Wednesday, would be good to go.

That's the setup to the matchup. Although Huntley isn't the dynamic and unique Jackson, his skillsets aren't much different, as the Browns learned last Dec. 12 when he came off the bench to throw for 270 yards and run for another 45 yards. Defensive end Myles Garrett said this week it "just felt like you were trying to chase down a chicken with like I don't know, doused in honey or something" when it came to trying to get the elusive Huntley.

That means it has to be an 11-man effort to stop Huntley, from those who have to contain him in the pocket to those in coverage who can't lose their receiver when he extends the play.

Cleveland Browns player to watch: RB Nick Chubb

Last week was atypical for Chubb. For a player ranked No. 3 in the NFL in rushing, he was a non-factor in the Browns' loss in Cincinnati. Chubb was held to just 34 yards on 14 carries, the second-lowest total of the season for the running back.

Now, he'll look to get over the 100-yard mark for the first time since the Week 12 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers while facing the Ravens' No. 2-ranked rushing defense. In the Week 7 loss in Baltimore, Chubb rushed for 91 yards and a touchdown on just 16 carries. That was also the game in which the Browns called nothing but pass plays between his 2-yard run to open their third possession with 10:05 remaining in the second quarter and his 5-yard run to start the seventh possession with 7:39 remaining in the third.

Baltimore Ravens player to watch: LB Roquan Smith

There's a lot of folks to choose from on the Ravens defense. However, the Browns didn't see Smith when they played Baltimore the last time because he wasn't with the Ravens at that time. Baltimore acquired him at the Nov. 1 trade deadline from Chicago, and he has been a major factor in why the Ravens defense has gotten even better. He recorded 37 tackles, two sacks, two passes defensed and an interception in his five games with Baltimore.

Meanwhile, the Ravens defense as a whole has allowed the fewest rushing yards per game (55), the second-fewest points per game (13.4) and the second-fewest touchdowns (six) in that span.

Three numbers: Keep Calais Campbell away from the kicks

9

Ravens 6-foot-8, 307-pound defensive lineman Calais Campbell can and will wreck things for opposing offenses. He'll also wreck things for opposing field-goal kickers. For his career, Campbell has blocked nine field goals, which is the most by any active player and third-most by any player since 2000. He got No. 9 last Sunday when he blocked a 40-yard Chris Boswell try, which earned him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after the Ravens' 16-14 win over the Steelers.

36.3

There's a lot of numbers that show how the Browns defense has struggled this season. It's ranked 16th or lower in just about every major statistical category: total yards (17th), run defense (22nd), pass defense (16th), points per game (27th), fourth-down defensive percentage (tied for 19th) and red-zone defense touchdown percentage (18th).

Yet, for all of those numbers, the Browns are sixth in the league in third-down defensive percentage. Opposing teams are converting 36.3% (57 of 157) of their third downs. In the last three games against Tampa Bay, Houston and Cincinnati, the Browns have held them to just 26.2% (11 of 42) on third down, which is second-best in the league in that span. Baltimore, in Week 7, converted 7 of 15 third downs (46.7%) against the Browns.

249.2

The Ravens defense has been the opposite of the Browns. Look through the major statistical categories, and Baltimore ranks among some of the best. Except when it comes to defending against the pass. The Ravens are 26th in the league against the pass, allowing 249.2 passing yards a game. Brissett, in Week 7, completed 22 of 27 passes for 258 yards. How Baltimore counters that, however, is through the pressure it gets on the quarterback with 39 sacks, including a season-high five in the first meeting against Cleveland, and its 14 interceptions.

Contact Chris at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Deshaun Watson ready for home debut for Browns against Ravens