With the Browns clinging to a five-point lead with simply 1:37 remaining in final Sunday’s recreation in opposition to the Jaguars, Cleveland quarterback Deshaun Watson lined up underneath the middle for a third-and-six from the Jacksonville 38-yard line.
The Jaguars had no timeouts, however as a substitute of operating the soccer to empty extra clock, Watson elected to try a cross to Cedric Tillman that Josh Hines-Allen broke up.
Cleveland punted the ball to the 10-yard line shortly thereafter, giving Jacksonville almost 90 seconds to try a rally.
Whereas the Browns held onto the win, analysts had questioned what precisely the Browns noticed to try the play.
Analyst Scott Petrak shared that data in the present day on X as Watson defined precisely what he noticed when he pulled the set off on the cross.
“I noticed a landing, however you’ve bought to offer (Josh Hines-Allen) credit score on making a terrific play,” Watson mentioned.
#Browns Deshaun Watson on late third-down incompletion that stopped clock. Kevin Stefanski wished him to take sack if completion wasn’t there, and Watson bought hit as he threw. pic.twitter.com/7c52eyn3LK
— Scott Petrak ct (@ScottPetrak) September 18, 2024
Watson mentioned he noticed Tillman promote the protection on being a blocker earlier than the receiver broke out on a route.
Hines-Allen was capable of beat Watson to the spot the place he was throwing the cross, breaking apart the potential game-sealing landing cross.
Whereas the play was extensively criticized, Watson confirmed confidence in himself to make that throw when operating the soccer would have reduce Jacksonville’s time with the ball down by greater than half.
Watson it appears wasn’t happy with leaving the crew’s probabilities within the protection’s palms as he tried to place the sport away with a closing landing.
The quarterback confirmed how a lot religion he has in his protection additionally because the incompletion gave the Jaguars extra time to function a two-minute drill with the sport on the road.
