Watson’s rust and Harris’s knee are top stories in win

Bringing home the W!! 👏#CLEvsJAX | #Browns pic.twitter.com/m9snDET3vZ

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 13, 2022

Quarterback Deshaun Watson was the story Friday night – he has to be, right? – but there were other important pieces of news that came out of the Browns’ 24-13 victory over the host Jacksonville Jaguars in the preseason opener for both teams.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Watson, after not playing at all in 2021 for the Houston Texans, was incredibly rusty in his Cleveland debut, going 1-5 passing for seven yards and looking incredibly bad doing it. He is troubled but talented, though, and will get better the more he plays in the preseason, but the question is if he will ever make it to the regular season at all this year as everybody waits for the length of his NFL suspension to be determined.

Browns Win; Watson struggles; Harris goes down; Browns Report; Rookies Shine; 3 Takeaways and More

But whoever ends up being under center may be under a new center as Nick Harris, who was given the starting job in the offseason, suffered a severe knee injury early in the game and could be lost for the season. Perhaps Harris should have been scratched from the lineup along with a number of starters on both sides of the ball so as to keep them healthy. Losing Harris would be a big blow to one of the best offensive lines in the NFL.

That gave a lot of rookies and other young players a great chance to show what they could do, and they took full advantage of it by leading the way in the win.

Indeed, like most preseason games, there was plenty to be happy about and just as much about which to be concerned. Beginning against Philadelphia next weekend, there are two more preseason games – and a lot of training camp practices, including several against the Eagles – to allow us to learn more about the Browns before the regular season arrives.

Steve King

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