I agree with most of what you have said but I do have a question. You said: "Once the DW came back the offense was in place. It is very hard eleven games into a season to change things and prepare for an opponent. DW is a different quarterback than Jacoby. He was playing for the first time in two years with a new team eleven games into a season."
Watson is an experienced NFL QB with 4-years of experience playing in the NFL. I realize that Watson didn't have live play for 700 days or so, but he did have the off-season last year and he had the preseason too. I guess my question is then, if Watson possesses all that NFL live experience, the off-season, and a preseason; how could he not be at least as equally prepared to play as a rookie QB that had even more limited exposure as in a Brock Purdy? Afterall, unlike Watson - Purdy had zero NFL live play experience. He had never had an NFL playbook before May 1, 2022 - more than 40-days later than when Watson received his playbook. Purdy didn't go to the Bahamas like where Watson treated the entire offense with a trip to work on team building and get some time working out together. Purdy sat as the #3 or #2 for 12 weeks not getting any snaps with the first team all those weeks of practice then was forced into playing with a new team 12 games into a season which was actually longer wait than Watson. Why the difference?
IMHO, Purdy may never start another game in the NFL after this season, that's a huge unknown. The upside for Watson, however, is undeniable as he's earned the projection of a top 5 elite QB but he still needs to prove that on the field. That said, I don't believe Watson showed us anything close to elite play in those 6 games and I find the constant barrage of excuses for Watson's less than expected performance over those last 6 games is ignoring that either Watson wasn't prepared to play, or the coaching staff wasn't prepared to have him playing. I mean really, as a fan that's been waiting forever for a winner, shouldn't we have expected more from a top 5 elite QB with 4-years NFL experience as a starter than seeing a rookie go undefeated and taken his team to the NFC Championship Game and totally outperform our 230M QB?
In business, when presented with a problem - you start asking why. You ask why at least 5 times because the answers will always start with cause excuses. By the time you get to the 5th why or so, you finally get past the excuses and will uncover the root cause that got you the problem in the first place. You can never fix the problem if you're continuing to deal with the excuses because the root cause is still there. With Watson, but more importantly the Browns, they spend a whole lot of time on why #1 and why #2 and never get to the root cause.
Anyway, nice post - I found it very informative.
Why #1 - The Browns drafted Baker Mayfield #1
Why #2 - There were 2 QB's taken after Mayfield that are far and away performing at a much higher level.
Why #3 - Baker Mayfield never played up to the potential of a 1st round draft pick much less the #1 overall pick.
Why #4 - The Bengals passed the Browns overnight while Mayfield was stuck in mediocrity.
Why #5 - Desperate the Browns seen and opportunity to acquire a QB that has performed to the level of elite he was just marred in a legal situation. Because of the Mayfield failure to give the team any chance to get back to the Bengals level they acquired a QB that they knew would have to work himself back into physical and mental game shape. Knowing this was a process they made the move because there was no hope in what they had!!!
