Comes up clutch late in upset victory

Watson completed 16 of 30 passes for 144 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions while rushing 11 times for 45 yards in the Browns' 21-18 win over the Panthers on Sunday. He also threw a two-point conversion pass.

While Watson was anything but efficient through the air for the majority of the afternoon, the veteran signal-caller avoided turnovers and fired a pair of key touchdown passes to Harold Fannin, including a game-winning scoring toss with 1:48 remaining on which Watson scrambled to buy himself time before releasing the ball on the run. Watson's mobility also played a key part throughout earlier portions of the game, as he was second on Cleveland in rushing yards with his highest total since Week 9 of the 2020 season while he was still with the Texans (he'd also rushed for 45 yards in Week 1 of the 2023 season). Watson is still clearly a work in progress in head coach Todd Monken's offense, but he appears to have an increasingly firm hold on the starting job heading into Thursday night's Week 4 divisional home clash against the Steelers.