Sadly for the Cleveland Browns, quarterback Deshaun Watson looked like an NFL third-stringer for most of the season-opening loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Even worse, Watson has to resemble anything like the star QB the Browns hoped for when they traded for him three years ago. In short, he's been bad.
Meanwhile, former QB Baker Mayfield tore it up Sunday for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a win over the Washington Commanders. So it's led to a lot of ... well, rage, in Cleveland.
One example of this came on a sports talk show (where else?), when a caller dared to mention Baker in the same sentence as Mayfield. And that Mayfield has been pretty good in Tampa Bay. And that Watson has been so-so, at best, in Cleveland.
Per Kristen Wong of Sports Illustrated:
"Radio host Ken Carman, who was discussing quarterback Deshaun Watson's form on the morning segment, took the fan's call. The phone exchange quickly turned ugly when Carman realized what point the fan was trying to make on-air."
Carman is a wildly popular host on 92.3 The Fan.
"Two numbers, you'll figure them out," the caller said. "42.9. 144."
"What is all this?" Carman asked.
"Watson's quarterback rating, [Baker] Mayfield's quarterback rating," the caller answered.
That's when Carman went nuts.
"Aw, Christ," he said. "I can't do this for one more second. No! That's enough! That's enough! ... Guys, I'm not doing it right out of the d—- box, can I have a little bit of time before we do this? Can I have a little bit of time? He ain't coming home, he ain't coming back! ... I can't undo the trade. I can't undo it!"
The first call on Cleveland sports talk radio this morning pic.twitter.com/Ef9dln5MjX
— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) September 9, 2024
You can't blame Carman for being fed up quickly. But you also can't blame the caller, as Wong detailed.
"Since 2022, Mayfield has outplayed Watson across the board: the current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback has racked up 6,496 passing yards to Watson's 2,386 yards, 44 touchdowns to Watson's 11 touchdowns, earned a 90.9 average QB rating to Watson's 78.1 and helped lead the Bucs to the divisional round of the playoffs last year," Wong wrote.
Oh boy. That's just sad. And yes, aggravating to Browns nation.
