Browns Week Matchup with Ravens A Pivotal One For Deshaun Watson

It's been a while since anyone has really thought about or talked about the Cleveland Browns making a quarterback change. 

That's because – in an unexpected twist – embattled quarterback Deshaun Watson has turned back the clock a bit and helped guide the team to a 3-2 start to the season. That stretch has come with some magical fourth-quarter moments, as Watson pulled off three straight game-winning drives in all three of Cleveland's wins this season. 

Watson's been better than expected; that's undeniable. Many of his stats sit right around league average, including his 64.4% completion percentage (17th), his 6.8 yards per attempt (19th) and his 94.1 passer rating (15th).

It's well-documented that Watson was on the bring of being benched had a Week 2 matchup with ex-Browns QB Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had gone poorly. To his credit, with his career theoretically on the line, Watson delivered a strong performance and the first of those aforementioned game-winning drives to make those discussions an afterthought. 

And yet, while Watson has had some encouraging moments, it hasn't been very sustainable. 

The bottom line is this, the 2020 version of Watson that led the league in passing isn't walking through that door and onto a football field. The 31-year-old has been fine, but there are hardly any illusions about who Watson is at this stage of his career, or about what his future here in Cleveland. 

The early-season success has staved off those conversations of change, but they're still lurking in the shadows, which is why Sunday's matchup with the Baltimore Ravens is a crucial one for Watson, for reasons beyond the obvious that the winning team will end up in first place in the AFC North  – for now anyway. 

Make no mistake about it, If Watson struggles against the Ravens, the offense continues to lag and the Browns lose in ugly fashion, the conversations about turning the offense over to Shedeur Sanders should quickly bubble back to the surface. Essentially, it would restart the clock on Watson's time under center. 

I say that understanding that Todd Monken isn't one to overreact and make an emotional decision about the most important position in the game, and rightfully so. Watson's fun start has, at the very least, bought him a decent runway to retain the job, so long as the Browns remain in the playoff picture. 

That could remain the case for several weeks here, especially with a matchup with the winless Tennessee Titans looming in Week 7. Admittedly, the schedule does remain a land of opportunity of sorts for Watson to attempt to extend this career revival if he plays well. 

But a lopsided loss to the Ravens, with Watson's typical inconsistencies, would serve as a pretty sobering reality check that this team's ceiling remains limited with him under center. And that at some point they need to lean into the young signal caller behind him to find out if he can raise the expectations at all, or even if he can be a long-term solution at the position. 

At the moment, as Week 6 commences, Cleveland's great quarterback debate remains in the back burner, as it should. But by the time the dust settles on Sunday's pivotal matchup with Baltimore, it could be right back at the forefront of everyone's mind.