Deshaun Watson has spent the last four seasons as an albatross around the Cleveland Browns' neck. Acquiring him, even after more than 20 accusations of sexual misconduct and what an NFL investigation called "predatory behavior," cost three first-round draft picks and an unprecedented $230 million contract that has smothered the franchise's salary cap space. In that stretch, he was either suspended, injured or, when available, one of the league's worst starting quarterbacks.
Head coach Todd Monken named him QB1 over Shedeur Sanders anyway, drawing criticism following the veteran's tone deaf comments this preseason. But over the last two games, the rookie head coach has been vindicated. Watson isn't putting up prolific numbers. He's coming through
in the clutch regardless.
His 238-yard, two touchdown performance in Week 2 was capped by a 68-yard touchdown drive that turned a 19-16 Tampa Bay Buccaneers lead into a 23-19 Browns win. His numbers dipped Sunday — he needed 30 passes to throw for just 144 yards — but he led two different lead-taking fourth quarter drives, including the 65-yarder that lifted his team to victory over the Carolina Panthers.
that's ✌️ scores on the day for Harold!#CARvsCLE on FOX pic.twitter.com/gYzHTbpmYR
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) September 27, 2026
Watson threw two touchdowns, both to Harold Fannin Jr., both in huge situations. He found the second-year tight end on fourth-and-goal with 97 seconds to go in the second quarter — a score that forced Carolina to continue throwing the ball, even as WR2 Jalen Coker went down with an injury.
Across his final two meaningful drives — trailing 12-10 and then 19-13 — he was six of nine for 77 yards and the game-winning touchdown. He also took one sack, threw an interception that was negated by a roughing the passer penalty that kept him off the field for one play and ran for 21 yards to convert third-and-three.
Denzel down the field 🎯#CARvsCLE on FOX pic.twitter.com/mQXTwVdQNV
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) September 27, 2026
Watson's game this season may not be sustainable, but it's sensible. Monken has brought him along as a risk-averse, short-range passer behind a rebuilt offensive line that's struggled to create space in either the run or pass games. His average pass traveled just 3.7 yards downfield in Week 2. In his home opener, that number rose to 6.2, but that was the second-shortest among starting quarterbacks Sunday, besting only Jameis Winston in a rain-soaked slogfest against the Tennessee Titans.
This short-range attack creates space for bigger throws down the line, but that hasn't consistently paid off. He completed only two of six throws to travel more than 10 yards downfield on Sunday. In Week 2 he only threw four passes that would have cleared the sticks on first-and-10 and didn't throw a single deep ball. Still, he's proven capable of escaping pressure, extending plays and keeping his offense on schedule long enough to sustain devastating drives.
that's ✌️ scores on the day for Harold!#CARvsCLE on FOX pic.twitter.com/gYzHTbpmYR
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) September 27, 2026
This is very good from an on-field standpoint. It's a bit concerning for the team's future. Watson was finally nearing a breaking point that Cleveland could have absorbed when it came to dead salary cap space. Restructuring his regrettable contract has added multiple void years and cap penalties down the line, but releasing him with a post-June 1 designation would have left behind a manageable (but clearly not great) $35 million dead space for 2027. Instead, he might somehow play his way into a cap-managing contract extension.
Why would Cleveland want him back? The other downside resulting from Watson's newfound competence is a looming slide down the rankings with a dense crop of quarterback prospects waiting in 2027. The Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans have been so bad in September that the Browns' two wins may already exclude them from a top-two pick. His ability to win games will also keep Shedeur Sanders off the field, stunting the growth of the divisive prospect by denying him reps.
The Watson we've seen in Weeks 2 and 3 (not Week 1, that was bad) is capable of placing this team into a position where they can't land a top-three quarterback even if they package their pick with the first rounder coming their way from the Los Angeles Rams from the Myles Garrett trade. The moment he finally looks like a solution, it's possible he's created another problem. He's clutch and able to extend plays, but his lack of sustained downfield success suggests a ceiling to his progress. He's good enough to make the Browns respectable, but not good enough to make them a contender.
Still, that's a better problem for Cleveland to have than "everything is awful, nihilism is the only response."
Let's talk about the rest of Sunday's action.
Best: Marcus Mariota, outdueling a Super Bowl winning QB to give the Washington Commanders their first win
Speaking of embattled dual-threat passers! Mariota played better than his stat line suggested after taking the reins for the Commanders in the second half of their Week 2 37-20 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. On Sunday, he played well enough to ensure another significant payday as one of the league's top backups and handed the defending world champions their first loss in the process.
Mariota utilized a spread attack to efficiently rack up yards in a game Washington never trailed. He was, as a whole, inefficient with his downfield passes — just three completions in nine attempts that traveled more than 10 yards downfield. He made those completions count. Two of his three touchdown passes on a 183-yard day came on those throws:
WENT UP AND GOT IT. TERRY TOUCHDOWN 🙌
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) September 27, 2026
📺 #SEAvsWAS FOX pic.twitter.com/CLDeeVJobP
Mariota's willingness to sling it made him a fish swimming upstream against the Seahawks' dense and aggressive attack. Drake Maye threw nine passes more than 10 yards downfield and completed five — two to his teammates and three to the Seahawks in his Week 1 loss in Washington. Jacoby Brissett, despite trailing throughout Week 2, attempted only four such throws and completed one... to Seattle safety Julian Love. Unsurprisingly, this 2-13, 32 yard, zero touchdown, four interception performance gave the Super Bowl champs a sterling 0.0 passer rating on throws 10-plus yards in the air.
Mariota's rating? 96.8. Not bad!
The reason those occasional deep throws worked was because Mariota was willing to stand in the pocket to execute the shorter range throws the Seahawks were used to, leaving safeties ticking toward the line of scrimmage. The veteran was hit nine times on 33 dropbacks, but only sacked twice for a net loss of seven yards. His ability to walk that line between disaster and delight created all the space needed to put the NFL's top defense on its heels.
🎯🎯🎯
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) September 27, 2026
📺 #SEAvsWAS FOX pic.twitter.com/ckX0p1kOPK
Mariota wasn't the only unexpected penny on the tracks of Seattle's hype train. Washington's 0.131 expected points added (EPA) allowed through two weeks ranked 26th in the NFL. This was, remarkably, a considerable improvement from last year's 31st-ranked defense. While that group still allowed a returning Sam Darnold to throw for 379 yards and four touchdowns, it also came through with clutch stops (even if the first interception was the result of blasting a slant throw off someone's head).
On an early fourth-and-goal, the Commanders' four-man rush couldn't get home — but it didn't matter, as the compressed field helped cover the weaknesses in Washington's secondary and led to a turnover on downs:
BIG STOP
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) September 27, 2026
📺 #SEAvsWAS FOX pic.twitter.com/QxEUk0iLwJ
Then, in the fourth quarter, the pressure came on a play-action rollout directly into Odafe Oweh's face, leading to a pick-six dagger:
OWEH WITH THE PRESSURE....KAIN TO THE HOUSE!!!!!
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) September 27, 2026
📺 #SEAvsWAS FOX pic.twitter.com/7jfhys1A4q
This was enormous. Washington's run game averaged 2.6 yards per carry. Its success rate — effectively a measure of how often a play keeps its offense on schedule — was an alarming 21 percent. The Commanders led, but they couldn't grind down the clock. They needed Mariota and that defense to keep making plays for 60 minutes against the defending champs.
They did. Now Washington has a win.
How did the Commanders respond to their first victory? By finding new and creative ways to call an opponent (and all of us who assumed a Seahawks W) a fraud.
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) September 27, 2026
Great work, social team. I'm not sure anyone's ever insulted me as hard as comparing me to Elizabeth Holmes.
Best: The Pittsburgh Steelers newfound downfield passing attack, or
Worst: Bengals' sudden lack of defense
Aaron Rodgers looked modestly rejuvenated in Week 1. His average pass traveled 9.5 yards downfield — nearly three yards further than his 2025 average. That fell off the following week in Foxborough, where his pass distance was 4.7 yards, his offense mustered three points and it felt like another year in purgatory for the fine citizens of Pittsburgh.
Head coach Mike McCarthy invested in changing that narrative in Week 3. Rodgers threw downfield often and early against the Cincinnati Bengals, even with a rookie right tackle making his first career NFL start against a pass rush that ranked seventh in the league in pressure rate (41.4 percent) but dead last in blitz rate (12.1 percent). It wasn't a full turn back the clock moment, but the four-time MVP wasn't fazed by simulated pressure and found space to make plays downfield.
the Bengals stunted, then only rushed four. but they covered like it was a 0-blitz, which is called strategy
— Christian D'Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) 2026-09-27T17:08:45.713Z
Rodgers had only thrown a single touchdown pass in two weeks, and it was six yards downfield. He'd only completed six total passes that traveled more than 10 yards downfield before Sunday. Then, the Bengals came to town and he matched that total... with three touchdown passes along the way.
That Skow ✖️ Rodgers connection 👌
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) September 27, 2026
📲 Stream on NFL+: https://t.co/vqIDzYZB2x pic.twitter.com/VaNQr9fuAu
And it would have been more if he could get on the same page with DK Metcalf, who is aggressive proving to not have a Davante Adams-like connection with his quarterback even if they like some of the same conspiracy theories.
when you spend the entire offseason talking about conspiracies but you're still somehow not on the same page
— Christian D'Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) 2026-09-27T18:02:20.224Z
Between Metcalf's glitches and an interception that bounced off Roman Wilson's hands, Rodgers' numbers actually undersell his overall performance. It wasn't a vintage performance, but it played the hits. He escaped pressure to extend plays and prolong drives, even if he took two different drive-stalling third-down sacks inside the Bengals' 10-yard line. He even got off an end-of-half Hail Mary attempt in which he danced in the backfield for about seven full seconds before a kinda-sad ending.
Aaron Rodgers walks to the locker room wincing after his pre-halftime hail mary ends with Dexter Lawrence tripping over him and dropping a knee into his ribs
— Christian D'Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) 2026-09-27T18:38:25.859Z
Rodgers will continue to be an uneven quarterback capable of reminding us who he was while showing us who he is. The bigger concern is where the Bengals go from here.
Cincinnati raced out to 2-0 with a pass rush that generated pressure without sacrificing extra defenders, creating reinforcements for a rising young secondary. It created two vital sacks that turned potential touchdown drives into field goals, but those were the only two Bengals sacks of the day. The team limited DK Metcalf and got burned by Wilson and Ben Skowronek. This is not a pick-your-poison offense, yet Cincy ended up getting its stomach pumped anyway.
The final tally? 302 total yards for Rodgers — his second-most in a game as a Steeler. Strange things happen in the AFC North. A 42-year-old Rodgers turning back the clock to stun what had been a top five defense through two weeks? Yep, that's a little weird.
Best: The Cowboys have a run defense now???
In 2025, the Cowboys run defense gave up 4.7 yards per carry — 26th-best in the NFL. Their 0.34 EPA allowed per carry ranked 29th. Their 24 rushing touchdowns allowed finished 31st. The defense in general was a mess, but that inability to stop opponents contributed to a league worst 47 percent conversion rate allowed on third down.
This was supposed to be a problem against Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and the Baltimore Ravens. But while the Ravens ran for nearly 200 total yards on the slippery turf of Rio de Janeiro's Maracanã Stadium, Dallas limited the damage Henry could do. Instead of giving up sizable gains to Tractorcito on short yardage situations, the Cowboys regularly stopped the Baltimore run game in big moments.
the Cowboys are getting 4th-and-inches stops on Derrick Henry, what kind of witchcraft is happening in Brazil
— Christian D'Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) 2026-09-27T20:42:46.885Z
and:
Jaishawn Barham is a mutant and the Cowboys run defense might be good again
— Christian D'Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) 2026-09-27T23:09:06.685Z
and, most importantly:
BIG PLAY BY @JaishawnBarham 😤
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) September 27, 2026
📺: #BALvsDAL on CBS
📲: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/XM2vIx7C1d pic.twitter.com/UceWBRVIEb
Jaishawn Barham, fresh off a frustrating game that saw him puke multiple times before the snap in a win over the Commanders, came up huge in relief of an injured DeMarvion Overshown. He flew to the ball, shedding blocks and turning uh-oh moments into massive opportunities to show off against a future Hall of Fame running back. Henry ran the ball on third or fourth-and-short four times. The Cowboys stopped him all four carries.
With the game on the line, Dallas stuffed Henry on first-and-goal, forcing head coach Jesse Minter to call back-to-back pass plays instead of running again and potentially grinding clock in the process. It worked out, in part because Henry did just enough as a blocker to give Lamar Jackson the space needed for a drive-saving touchdown.
look at Derrick Henry get juuuuuuuust enough of Quinnen Williams on his cut block to create the space for Lamar Jackson to take the lead
— Christian D'Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) 2026-09-27T23:32:40.675Z
This didn't matter, because the pass defense was understaffed even before losing multiple members of the secondary to injury, creating space for Baltimore's game-winning seven-second drive. Still, it's an encouraging start for the Cowboys. The Ravens gave Henry the ball when everyone expected it because it's a strategy that typical works, even against loaded boxes. But Barham and a revamped defensive front turned that into a strength, only to be undone by its passing down weakness.
Worst: A Cam Ward-Jameis Winston experience in the rain
Two teams. One touchdown. One near Jameis safety (as tackler, not ballcarrier).
Tremendous. Just like they drew it up.
— Tim Price (@timprice.bsky.social) 2026-09-27T17:43:34.015Z
The weather was awful, but Winston and Cam Ward combined for 289 passing yards on 58 attempts. Cam Skattebo, left to play Bebop as fellow rockheaded mutant Rocksteady (Jaxson Dart) rehabs a season-ending knee injury, gained 60 yards on 20 carries against a below average run defense that had nothing to fear via Winston's arm.
This was the NFL equivalent of two children throwing rocks at trains. No one seemed quite sure how scoring worked, the throws themselves were terrible and the game itself chugged forward, ambivalent to the stupid things that were happening in its name.
Worst: 49ers electrical substation jokes
San Francisco lost Mike Evans, Dre Greenlaw and Trent Williams Sunday, adding to an injured list that already included:
- Nick Bosa
- Ricky Pearsall
- Christian Kirk
- De'Zhaun Stribling
- Alfred Collins
- Jake Tonges
- Demarcus Robinson
This will all feed into a very forced conspiracy theory about electromagnetic waves permeating the bodies of players from a nearby electrical substation. That's interesting, but also much less likely than the probable real reason.
As Rodger Sherman points out, few coaches work their players harder in practice than Kyle Shanahan. Since football is a game rooted in contact and conflict, this leads to the very understandable outcome of wear and tear and, eventually, a stockpile of injuries. The 49ers electrical substation: fully exonerated.
Best: The 3-0 (!) Las Vegas Raiders
The odds were not in Kirk Cousins' favor as he worked back from the Achilles tear that ended his Minnesota Vikings career. A sudden lack of mobility meant cutting play-action attacks and long drops out of his game. He was forced into an efficient, but low-impact offense where not even playmakers like Bijan Robinson, Drake London or Kyle Pitts could prop him back up. Two underwhelming seasons followed and he headed to a worse looking situation with the Las Vegas Raiders and their lack of receiving talent.
His role was, ostensibly, to serve as a damage sponge as first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft Fernando Mendoza earned reps in practice and worked his way into the starting lineup. Instead, we got this:
Cody cashes it in 🤑#LVvsNO | 📺 Paramount+ pic.twitter.com/1dVmPIzjoR
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) September 27, 2026
Cousins has thrown three touchdown passes in each of his first three games as a Raider. Week 3's win over the New Orleans Saints saw him do it for the first time without a turnover, finding a way to outlast Tyler Shough and his four touchdown passes in a 35-27 win.
The added mobility two-plus years post injury has had a major impact on what he's been able to do. After operating in play action 31.1 percent his final season in Minnesota, it was down to 14.2 percent in his debut season with the Falcons. That's grown to 27 percent through the first two games, including on the touchdown shown above.
Importantly, he's been able to do it with minimal reliable supporting castmates. Brock Bowers had 10 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown, but that was his first game of the season following knee surgery. Otherwise, the Raiders top non-running back targets have been Tre Tucker, Michael Mayer, Jack Bech, Jalen Nailor and Cody White (three catches, three touchdowns).
That's not a situation in which a 38-year-old should thrive! But Cousins is doing it while averaging 8.6 air yards per throw, taking a riskier downfield approach than guys like Watson and Rodgers discussed above. On Sunday, he threw 10 passes that traveled at least 10 yards downfield, completing six for a coolly efficient 95 yards.
While he's still not especially mobile, Cousins has recovered to the point where he can play winning football. He's been paired with a run game that isn't at Bijan levels but can absolutely cook with Ashton Jeanty and Mike Washington Jr. That respect means those play-action fakes have utility again, and he's playing like a true veteran to progress through reads quickly and find an open man. Sacks could be an issue going forward — the Saints got to him about once every dozen dropbacks for a net loss of 21 yards — but so far he's established that he can be a short-term oprtion for a quarterback-needy team when he hits free agency next spring.
Best: Steve Avila, embracing his alma mater's weirdness
"Hypnotoad University"
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero.bsky.social) 2026-09-28T00:28:32.821Z
Yes.
gotmilk.mp4 #GoFrogs #DFWBig12Team #FiestaFrogs #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/sFYa7MwoAe
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) January 1, 2023
Oh god, yes. For one glorious season a Big 12 team [expletive]posted its way to the national title game. Avila isn't going to let us forget.
Worst: The Mon-Stars got Drake Maye
I was born and raised in Rhode Island, which means I come from a vast community of reactive and dramatic New England Patriots fans. But when one of the guys in our Rhode Island Scumbag League fantasy football group chat pointed out that Bailey Zappe wouldn't have made this play, well, it was tough to argue.
Let your game speak, 12 🤫 @TravisHunterJr | #NEvsJAX on CBSpic.twitter.com/Cx68N1JkSb
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) September 27, 2026
Maye was so bad that Tommy DeVito earned his first snaps of the season, playing the bulk of the fourth quarter after the Jacksonville Jaguars staked a 35-6 lead. Through three games, he's scored a single touchdown (a Week 1 pass to Eli Raridon). In the 10 quarters since he's been responsible for seven turnovers. The Patriots have been outscored 51-29 in that stretch, and it includes a 20-3 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Maye built himself into a franchise quarterback by handling pressure with aplomb. His 244 dropbacks under pressure were third-most in the NFL His -0.05 EPA per dropback was the best among all quarterbackswith at least 100 snaps. His 0.35 EPA per snap when blitzed was roughly 33 percent better than second-place Jordan Love. How in the galaxy did we go from that to "ceding mop-up time to Tommy Cutlets?"
Boston Herald reporter Andrew Callahan has a theory, and it's worth exploring.
It seems Drake Maye is forcing throws because they worked in practice, and that gap between practice execution and game results is now eroding trust in what he sees on Sunday.Column from the locker room:www.bostonherald.com/2026/09/27/c...
— Andrew Callahan (@andrewcallahan.bsky.social) 2026-09-28T00:01:25.134Z
The Maye we've seen in 2026 looks like someone who has flipped on autopilot as bad situations unfold around him. Instead of ditching the ball and living to fight another day, he's forcing the ball downfield into situations that should be open even if they aren't.
Pressure has narrowed his decisions down to tunnel vision, and the big throws to unheralded receivers that carried him through 2025 haven't been there. It's possible he was told to simplify his game and rely on his new wideout arrivals to carry him through after a concerning playoff debut, but A.J. Brown is on injured reserve and Romeo Doubs has six catches in three games.
Thus, a quarterback who was capable of doing too much last season is actually doing too little — only it looks like he's trying too hard because he's not seeing the field as cleanly as he had in his breakthrough sophomore year. He's still able to make some throws downfield work, but now he's second guessing his first instinct AND what he'd seen in practice. He's stuck between worlds, and in trying to trust his training he's making massive, game-breaking decisions.
YOINK@JarrianJones | #NEvsJAX on CBS pic.twitter.com/5oQk5aVRZD
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) September 27, 2026
This is not sustainable. It all stands to cost Maye a lot of money when it comes to his first contract extension and the Patriots a lot of games. This is a problem with no easy solution; it means breaking down a rising young quarterback's habits and getting him back to the risk/reward analysis that paid off so well in what should have been panic hours.
So far, all we've seen is Maye create those panic hours on his own. Now New England is 1-2 for the second straight season as a result.
Worst: The Buffalo Bills' 2026 alternate uniforms
We gotta stop introducing gray as a color when we run out of uniform ideas. Sure, Buffalo is Nickel City. That doesn't mean the Bills need to look like someone dropped a bunch of change and a couple of Sharpies into a clothes drier, then let them tumble for hours.
New unis for Josh Allen and co. today
— Jonathan Acosta (@JAcostaTV) September 27, 2026
Official debut of the #Bills Nickel City alternates#BillsMafia @WGRZ pic.twitter.com/Aa7fD3g2m3
Hmmmm. Gross.
3 unexpected fantasy studs
- QB Geno Smith, New York Jets (Nine percent owned in Yahoo! fantasy leagues): 321 passing yards, three touchdowns, 12 rushing yards, one two-point conversion
- TE Noah Fant, New Orleans Saints (Zero percent): Four targets, four catches, 33 yards, two touchdowns
- WR Roman Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers (Zero percent): Six targets, three catches, 60 yards, one touchdown
3 bewildering fantasy duds
- WR Malik Nabers, New York Giants (99 percent): Six targets, five catches, 26 (!) yards
- WR Tetairoa McMillan, Carolina Panthers (99 percent): Five targets, two catches, 17 yards
- TE Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills (98 percent): Three targets, two catches, 38 yards
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Deshaun Watson gives Browns a unique new problem and the best, worst of Week 3
