{"id":1021538,"date":"2026-08-24T18:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T18:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1021538\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T18:59:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T18:59:18","slug":"5-key-storylines-from-week-2-of-nfl-preseason-browns-qb-decision-falcons-qb-battle-to-heat-up-latest-nfl-news-analysis-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1021538\/","title":{"rendered":"5 key storylines from Week 2 of NFL preseason: Browns’ QB decision, Falcons’ QB battle to heat up | Latest NFL News, Analysis & Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Browns name Watson starter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Todd Monken\u2019s decision to name Deshaun Watson<\/a> the team’s Week 1 starting QB<\/a> was clearly made before Saturday\u2019s preseason game against the Bills and Watson’s postgame comments. It\u2019s the only way the decision to start the 30-year-old Week 1<\/a> makes logical sense.<\/p>\n

Watson, seemingly perturbed that paying customers would voice their displeasure, looked disinterested on Saturday, skittishly going through the motions, making poor decisions and worse throws in a 5-of-12 passing performance.<\/p>\n

The QB misfired repeatedly, didn’t have the arm to fit the ball into tight windows, and airmailed wobbly pigskins that a backup had no trouble intercepting<\/a>. It was an ugly mess. And it wasn\u2019t new for a QB who has appeared in 19 games over four years in Cleveland. He\u2019s been a dink-and-dunk checkdown merchant who implodes at the first sign of pressure. It\u2019s a continuation of a player whose play more closely resembles an undrafted free agent who should be relegated to scout-team work than a star QB.<\/p>\n

After the game, Watson criticized the fanbase for boos<\/a>, suggesting they had less to do with repeated poor performances and were \u201cmore personal than that.\u201d Perhaps there are some Browns fans for whom that is true. There is also a completely different sect that once upon a time celebrated the original trade<\/a> that brought him to Cleveland from Houston in 2022. Since that day, Watson has been suspended, injured and has played poorly. Apparently that was enough to bump him from the starting role.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not suggesting Shedeur Sanders<\/a> is the best answer, but he was clearly the better passer<\/a> on Saturday. The second-year QB was more decisive and mostly on point with his passes on Saturday (9-of-11 for 74 yards, one TD and one INT). The issue with Sanders remains consistency, with his first off-target pass getting intercepted. But at least he stretched the field and didn\u2019t look aloof in the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Browns open the season with two road games, a fact that feels pertinent to the decision to ride with Watson. If Cleveland opened at home, Watson — who is not expected to see action in the preseason finale — would have likely been relentlessly booed. If he can win a game\u00a0in Jacksonville<\/a> or Tampa Bay<\/a>, perhaps the reaction from the fans won\u2019t be as rough. If the Browns start 0-2 and Watson continues to play like he did Saturday, it could be a quick hook for the veteran. Regardless of when it happens, it\u2019ll be a surprise if Watson makes it the entire season at QB1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Browns name Watson starter Todd Monken\u2019s decision to name Deshaun Watson the team’s Week 1 starting QB was…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1021539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[39],"tags":[529,166142,61664,43574,6328,532,34505,53427,8995,45040,531,1544,8998,19157,203060,2778,2505,9002,44207,26600,78651,317072,3570,62427,535,8986,9006,72036,20979,8812,9004,5287,50,1232,1105,1545,204872,19156,53144,62,80086,3528,78329,48479,20980,67,132,68,251939,22655],"class_list":["post-1021538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-analysis","tag-andy-dalton","tag-anthony-richardson","tag-around-the-nfl","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-braden-smith","tag-braxton-jones","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-cade-klubnik","tag-chicago-bears","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-deshaun-watson","tag-ethan-pocic","tag-fernando-mendoza","tag-houston-texans","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-j-j-mccarthy","tag-jake-slaughter","tag-joe-milton-iii","tag-kahlil-benson","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-kyle-allen","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-mason-rudolph","tag-michael-penix-jr","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-new-york-jets","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-riley-leonard","tag-shedeur-sanders","tag-spencer-rattler","tag-sports","tag-stetson-bennett","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tanner-mckee","tag-tua-tagovailoa","tag-ty-simpson","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wyatt-teller","tag-zach-wilson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1021538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1021539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1021538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1021538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1021538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}