The Cleveland Browns kicked off the Deshaun Watson era with an ugly win over the Houston Texans, 27-14, on the road in Week 13 of the 2022 NFL season. Now at 5-7, the Browns are tied with the Steelers for third place in the AFC North. They are still quite a long way from the fringe of a playoff spot, but they're also not out of it yet. That also means they'll take any win they can get, no matter how ugly it is. Here we will look at our position group grades for the Cleveland Browns in their Week 13 win over the Houston Texans.
Watson made his first NFL regular season start in 700 days on Sunday in Houston. He certainly was not perfect, but the Browns still found ways to win. Cleveland got the plays it needed from the defense and special teams to get win No. 5 of the season.
From the opening kickoff, this game was truly sloppy. Both sides handed the ball away in the first 12 plays alone. In fact, on Houston's first drive, Texans quarterback Kyle Allen threw a long interception to Browns safety John Johnson III. Then Browns wide receiver Anthony Schwartz fumbled after running a few yards after Watson's 14-yard pass. The Texans also safetied Cleveland when a Nick Chubb run from his own 1-yard line was stuffed after a Houston kickoff. What made the difference in this game was that the Browns were able to string together enough offensive yardage to put kicker Cade York in position for his two field goals.
The Browns will travel to Cincinnati next, where Deshaun Watson will have another chance to prove himself, this time against elite QB Joe Burrow.
Let us look at our grades for the Browns in their Week 13 win over the Texans.
Passing Offense
Controversial Cleveland QB Deshaun Watson played with a lot of rust in this game. That was expected, though, given how much time on the field he has missed. He visibly struggled to connect with his receivers here, most noticeably regarding the timing of his throws. Many of the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback's passes were either underthrown or late, which was an offshoot of missing the Browns' first 11 games this season and sitting out the 2021 season. He finished the game by completing 12-of-22 passes for 131 yards and a head-scratching interception in the end zone. He had a passer rating of just 53.4.
Watson's interception underscored the fact that he is playing in a real game for the first time since Week 17 of the 2020 season. Watson fired a throw across the middle of the end zone to star wideout Amari Cooper, but Houston Texans rookie safety Jalen Pitre was there and easily got the pick.
Watson certainly needs more reps in practice and games with his new teammates before resembling the quarterback who was a top-five performer in 2020.
Grade: C
Rushing Offense
The offensive line in Cleveland is generally the team's strength, but that wasn't the case this week. They allowed pressure on Deshaun Watson throughout the game, and they also had a tough time opening gaps for running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.
However, their worst series came after a stunning fourth-down stop by the defense. Cleveland took over at the one after Grant Delpit separated Troy Hairston from the ball on fourth down. After Chubb advanced the ball one yard, they had to go back because Wyatt Teller was flagged for a false start.
Houston's Maliek Collins then drove Jack Conklin into Chubb on the following snap, and Houston tackled him in the end zone to take a 5-0 lead. Ouch. Chubb finished with 80 yards on 17 carries with no touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Kareem Hunt was one of the few bright spots on offense tonight. It was good to see him actually look like his old self. He was an certainly excellent check-down option for Watson and made a couple of good runs.
Hunt finished the game with 56 yards on just 9 carries for 6.2 YPC.
Grade: B
Passing Defense
The Browns defense was absolutely swarming in this game. It forced a season-high four turnovers and allowed Cleveland to win the turnover differential 4-2.
To illustrate, Cleveland forced Texans QB Kyle Allen to throw two interceptions and a fumble on his own 2. Two of those were returned for scores. Cleveland Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward scooped up Allen's fumble and returned it 4 yards for a score. Meanwhile, linebacker Tony Fields returned Allen's second interception 16 yards for a touchdown after a deflection by defensive end Chase Winovich.
Fields, in particular, was spectacular here. He had a forced fumble, pick-six, and fumble recovery on a failed Texans punt return.
Grade: B+
Rushing Defense
Cleveland's rushing defense did pretty well, too. They limited Houston to just 82 yards on the ground here. Sure, Dameon Pierce had a fine day with 73 yards, but it took him 18 carries to get that total. That amounts to just 4.1 YPC. The Browns rushing defense also did not allow a single rushing TD in this game.
Grade: B+
Special Teams
Cleveland scored on special teams with a 76-yard punt return by Donovan Peoples-Jones. York was also perfect in terms of kicking field goals.
DPJ's 76-yard punt return touchdown was arguably the most electrifying play from this game. It's actually just the second punt return touchdown of the entire season for the whole league. The first one belongs to the Patriots, following Marcus Jones' game-winning punt return touchdown against the Jets in Week 11. It's also Cleveland's first since Travis Benjamin in 2015.
Donovan Peoples-Jones takes it ALL THE WAY to the house on the punt return TD 💨🙌pic.twitter.com/5cIo8yy8PA
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) December 4, 2022
The return underlined the significant progress DPJ, who has been made a punt returner over the previous two games. Keep in mind that he returned five punts for 75 yards (15.0 average yards per return) last week against the Buccaneers, looking more confident and speedy than he did in his first and second seasons. With his performance here, DPJ looks to be the unquestionable top-choice punt returner for the Browns as the season continues.
The Browns special teams really came to play in this game.
Grade: A
Coaching
Kevin Stefanski gets a pass here, though just barely. The Browns offense just didn't look in sync throughout this game. They were +92 on the ground but that was offset by their atrocious passing game, which finished -70. And take note this was against one of the worst offenses in the league.
Still, the defense and special teams came through, and we have to give Cleveland's coaching staff credit for that. If not for those two units, this would have been a horrible loss for the Browns.
Grade: C+
Overall
We like what we saw from the defense and special teams. The question now is can they be consistent? We'd love to see more sacks from Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney, though.
We didn't like what we saw from the offense, especially from Deshaun Watson. The question now is can he rediscover the form that made him so dangerous two seasons ago? And while he tries to do that, can Cleveland's run game continue carrying this offense moving forward?
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