It has been said many times — which tells you it’s true because those are the only stories that stand the test of time — that nothing in pro football is forgotten faster than the preseason finale.

And so it is.

We’re at that point now with the Browns. Likely by the time you read this, they will have finished their game against the New England Patriots on Thursday night at Huntington Bank Field. With that, then, they will now turn their full attention — if they hadn’t already done so in many cases —  to the regular season, which begins in a little over two weeks from now, on Sept. 13, against the host Jacksonville Jaguars. That’s when the games will start counting in the standings. No more practice games, or exhibition games.

Right at the very heart of all that is starting quarterback — for now at least — Deshaun Watson. At the moment the final gun sounded in the game against the Patriots, the clock began ticking for the two most important games in his career, including also the road contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the following Sunday, Sept. 20. Certainly, neither Watson nor head coach Todd Monken will call it the quarterback’s most important games, but that is obviously the case, even if the coach said, upon naming Watson as the starter, that his hold on the job “is not a week-to-week thing.” That means Watson is the starter, no matter what.

Hmmm.

You don’t say?

Head coaches believe games are played in a vacuum. That is hardly the case. As much as they think they are in control of what happens, they’re not. They are at the mercy of hundreds of other factors, including, and especially, the fans. Monken pulled a PR disaster by summarily dismissing the fans when he said he gave zero thought to them — and their strong allegiance to the other guy in the fight, Shadeur Sanders — as he made his quarterback decision.

Gotcha, Coach. Duly noted. 

But let’s be very clear in saying — accurately so, I can absolutely, positively, fully guarantee it — that if Watson, the offense and the Browns overall are underwhelming — to put it mildly — in those first two games, then you are asking for trouble — for the quarterback, the club and yourself — if you keep him in the lineup against the Carolina Panthers in the home opener on Sept. 27. If you, Watson and anyone else think that the booing the quarterback got while playing in a meaningless game against the Buffalo Bills in front of 15,000 fans who had sat through a driving rain and a lightning storm was nightmarish, then you are in for a real shock because a full house of 67,000 fans in the stands for the first meaningful game of the year will be a whole heckuva lot louder and even more impactful in a totally negative way.

It wouldn’t end well. Just sayin’.

The only way to have even an opportunity to change any of that is for Watson, the offense and the Browns overall to be on at least a little bit of a roll coming off the road trip.

Deshaun Watson, it’s up to you. It could be the beginning of the very end of at least the Cleveland part of your career, or the first steps in the right direction, both on and off the field, with the full realization, though, that enough steps to fill up the Terminal Tower would still remain.

You have a whole lot work to do in a relatively short amount of time to get ready, Deshaun Watson, so you had better get busy.

Steve King