Admits being out of sync

Watson acknowledged that he dealt with rhythm and timing issues in his season debut last week against the Texans after he missed the first 11 games of the campaign while serving a suspension, Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal reports. "All of that stuff's gotta come back and, like I said last week, I don't know when it's gonna come back," Watson said. "I don't know if it was gonna be last week, this week. My job is to just keep getting better and when it clicks it, it clicks and everyone will feel that."

Watson underwhelmed last week in his first regular-season game in 700 days, as he sat out the entire 2021 season before Houston traded him to Cleveland over the offseason. In his second start with Cleveland this Sunday against the Bengals, Watson may not return to the Pro Bowl-caliber form he displayed prior to his nearly two years away from the game, but the quarterback seems confident that he'll gradually get more comfortable. Watson said he was able to get a feel for the "speed of the game and how defenses adjust" in his season debut, but there were noticeable timing issues with receivers, as he often throw short of or behind targets. Watson will get the opportunity to further acclimate Sunday, and head coach Kevin Stefanski reiterated earlier this week that he has no plans to turn the offense back over to Jacoby Brissett in what will be a matchup critical to Cleveland's fading playoff hopes.