Deshaun Watson asks for tips from the Super Bowl champion on how…

admin | February 3, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

Deshaun Watson asks for tips from the Super Bowl champion on how to win the AFC North.

This past season, the Browns experienced the playoffs as a Wild Card club. However, as Andrew Berry underlined at his season-ending press conference, one of the organization’s primary goals remains to win the division and host a playoff game.

While quarterback Deshaun Watson recovers from shoulder surgery with hopes of contributing to the cause in 2024, he’s searching for any advise he can get to make that ambition a reality.

In the most recent episode of the QB Unplugged Podcast, which Watson co-hosts with his personal coach Quincy Avery, retired Steelers safety turned ESPN analyst Ryan Clark joined the conversation, and Watson sought advise from the Super Bowl Champion on what it takes to win the AFC North.

Deshaun Watson asked Ryan Clark for his advice on what it takes to win the AFC North on the QB Unplugged podcast this week. His response via @Lockerverse: pic.twitter.com/cypi4iXCDZ

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“It’s an it’s an it’s a very different a very different division than it was when I play, obviously,” Clark went on to say. But one thing is constant: it’s tough. Right?

“I believe you learn that if you do not fight through injury and play well in the fourth quarter, you will not win. There will be physicality involved. Within that division. You think that everyone has fantastic rushers. That’s what the AFC North was built on, whether it’s Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Trey Hendrickson, or Justin Madubuike. “The rushers are all over the place.”

Clark is correct; the AFC North has a reputation for being a physical division. Rugged defense and running the football are hallmarks of what many fans of the Browns, Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals refer to as “AFC North football.”

This past season, the Browns quarterback demonstrated his toughness by battling through the grind of division opponents. In Watson’s final game of the season, he led a 14-point comeback against the Ravens, going 14-for-14 for 134 yards and a score in the second half, to secure a 33-31 victory. Two days later, it was revealed that he had played the most of the game with a fractured glenoid in his throwing shoulder, which would ultimately terminate his season. Watson seemed to have the physical part down.

There is one significant difference in the outlook of the AFC North teams today compared to when Clark played.

“The difference is now is the quarterbacks are really good,” he went on to say. “I believe that’s why you struggle if you’re a Pittsburgh because, like, when you draft Kenny [Pickett], Kenny needs to play at a higher level because you’re going to face Lamar [Jackson], Joe [Burrow], and Deshaun twice a year. It wasn’t like that when I started playing. We had Ben [Roethlisberger], who was the division’s greatest quarterback for a long time. Joe [Flacco] stepped in and played briefly against Carson [Palmer] and Andy [Dalton]. Cleveland had a revolving door of bad individuals.

It’s no secret that the Browns lacked quarterback depth compared to their division opponents from 2006 to 2013. Oddly, the script has turned a decade later, with Clark’s Steelers currently lagging behind at the quarterback position.

Clark provided another bit of advice for Watson as well.

“The other thing is consistency,” Clark said. “I don’t think that’s any different from any other area to play football or division. But, bro, you have to show there every week because it’s going to be really tight. It’s going to come down to tiebreakers, division wins, and conference wins.”

Watson saw first hand, even while injured, just how tightly contested the AFC North can be this past season. The Browns were one of three teams from the division to make the playoffs, along with Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Even the Bengals finished above. 500, marking the first time since the merger every team in a division had a winning record.

It won’t get any easier in 2024 with Burrow back in the fold coming off an injury of his own and Jackson coming off an MVP season. At least Watson has Clark’s advice to fall back in next season.