Browns' Deshaun Watson Has Curious Explanation For Missed Fourth-Down Play

The Cleveland Browns signal caller was sacked eight times in the team's loss to the New York Giants

Sep 22, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) scrambles from New York Giants linebacker Micah McFadden (41) during the second half at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Facing a fourth-and-one from his own 29-yardline, with a little over four minutes to play against the New York Giants last weekend, Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski made the controversial decision to go for it.

The conversion attempt failed. In it's wake, perhaps the only thing more questionable than the decision to go for it was quarterback Deshaun Watson's decision to swallow the ball and run, despite tight end Jordan Akins being wide open in the flat.

Since the dust settled on Cleveland's 21-15 loss to New York, the play has been dissected by both fans and NFL analysts alike, with everyone wondering the same thing: why didn't he throw the ball to Akins for an easy first down?

On Wednesday Watson responded to questions about what he saw on the play, and share a curious explanation.

Here's #Browns QB Deshaun Watson's full answer on Jordan Akins being a decoy on the 4th down play from Sunday. Certainly an interesting response... pic.twitter.com/pYmPpShm5S

— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) September 25, 2024

“Because other people are not in the film room, so not everyone knows exactly what the read was," said Watson. "That was a decoy. So that's the difference. Everyone can pause the tape and say, ‘Hey, he should have thrown it here, he should have thrown it here.’ Every quarterback deals with that. So if you choose one play and that's the play out of the whole game that everyone is calling and so be it. It is what it is."

According to Watson, Akins was a decoy on the play and after looking towards the slant route, which was being run by Jerry Jeudy, Watson doesn't quite turn his attention to his tight end, hesitates then takes off running. Ultimately, he was stopped just short of the marker as Cleveland gave the ball back to New York.

The basics
The basics
The basics pic.twitter.com/d6LkTUZs3g

— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) September 24, 2024

Watson defended his decision-making even further.

"No one's in those film rooms, no one is making those decisions," he said. "So I go based off of what is Ken Dorsey and Kevin Stefanski saying. On that decision, they made a good play. They got jammed up on the slant. That's what we did. The previous time when we scored a touchdown, I did the same exact read and I hit Jerry. So did I see it wrong then? So for me, it’s like I said before, I go based off what Kevin and Ken is making those decisions and how they grade at me on that.”

On one hand, only Watson and his teammates and coaches really know the exact play call and what each player's role in it was. Even if he's accurately explaining the play though, it won't save him from the swarms of fans and pundits questioning his decision making process.