The one and only Stephen A. Smith ripped Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson.
On Wednesday, Deshaun Watson was asked about the importance of a good performance to keep his starting job and foster goodwill ahead of the Cleveland Browns' home opener against the Carolina Panthers in Week 3.
Here is what he said:
"Personally, I think all that is for the media," Watson said. "I think the media has this expectation that I'm supposed to throw 400 yards and five touchdowns every week. Until that happens, I guess it's going to be the same situation. My job is to make sure I'm playing well so that we can try to get a win and keep moving forward from there."
One day later, the one and only Stephen A. Smith ripped Watson for his comments.
"Deshaun Watson in Cleveland, you have been awful," Smith said. "And if you were to get arrested for being awful, I wouldn't knock it. I said it months ago. I'm going to say it again. It has been very, very bad.
"But I'm going to tell you how you just made it worse. Awful is one thing. Stupid is another. I'm not calling you stupid Deshaun Watson. Wouldn't disrespect you like that bro. I'm calling your actions stupid. You know why? You're complaining about people talking about you playing football. Haven't you done other things that people could be talking about? They're not bringing it up. None of it. I'm not going to bring it up now. None of it.
"You're actually being talked about as it pertains to football. How, with all that you have been through Deshaun, could you be complaining about people talking about football? You should embrace every football conversation because there's ammunition to talk about things other than football. Think!"
More than two dozen women accused Watson of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions. That's what Smith is referring to.
As expected, Watson played inadequately against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1. The former Houston Texans star went 16/22 through the air. He threw one touchdown and one interception and was sacked five times.
The Browns trailed the Jaguars 24-0 at halftime, tying their worst halftime shutout in the past 35 years.
Through two quarters, Cleveland had only five first downs on six drives and was 0-for-4 on third down.
"I think we just got to find a rhythm overall," Watson said. "Of course everyone's going to look at the quarterback in the situation. ... We got to put points on the board, and that's what you got to do in this league. Playing the quarterback position, you're the leader in that role. And we didn't do that today. We only got 10. We left a lot out there. So obviously I take that responsibility full throttle, and we got to look at the tape and see how we can be better and try to attack Tampa Bay next week to be able to get points on the board to be able to get wins."
If Watson starts in Week 3, he will get booed very, very loudly.
