The 2023 Cleveland Browns got a taste of the playoffs as a Wild Card team. As general manager Andrew Berry emphasized at his end of the season press conference though, winning the division and hosting a playoff game remains one of the organizations main goals.
While quarterback Deshaun Watson works his way back from shoulder surgery hoping to help that cause in 2024, he’s looking for any advice he can get to make that goal a reality.
In the latest episode of the QB Unplugged Podcast that Watson co-hosts with his personal coach Quincy Avery, retired Steelers safety turned ESPN analyst, Ryan Clark joined the duo and Watson sought some advice from the Super Bowl Champion on what it takes to win the AFC North.
It’s a very different a very different division than it was when I play, obviously,” Clark said. But I think the one thing that always stands there, it’s tough Right.
The Browns QB showed he could handle the physical grind this past season while playing through the gauntlet of division foes.
In what wound up being Watson’s final game of the season he led a 14-point comeback against the Ravens – going 14-for-14 for 134 yards and a touchdown in the second half – to earn a 33-31 win.
Two days later, it was revealed he had played most of the game with a fractured glenoid in his throwing shoulder. His season was over, but Watson’s toughness was on full display.
The other thing too is, it’s consistency,” Clark asserted. “I don’t think that’s any different than any other place to play football, or any other division. But bro, you got to show up every week because it’s gonna be so tight.
It’s gonna come down to tie-breakers, it’s gonna come down to division wins, to conference wins.
Watson saw first hand, even while injured, just how tightly contested the AFC North can be this past season.
The Browns were one of three teams from the division to make the playoffs, along with Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Even the Bengals finished above.
500, marking the first time since the merger every team in a division had a winning record.
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