The Falcons sit in pole position in the NFC South following their convincing victory over the Panthers on Sunday, and everyone in Atlanta is actually excited about the team again, but there’s an alternate reality with Deshaun Watson that would be literal hell.
I have talked about this several times before, and I won’t stop. Arthur Blank and everyone involved in Atlanta’s pursuit of Watson should be criticized. Firstly, the off-the-field allegations are disturbing and would’ve alienated a portion of the fan base. Secondly, he has literally been the worst quarterback in football.
Watson took 28 dropbacks against the Eagles, who have one of the worst defenses in the league, and only managed to produce 144 yards. Cleveland failed to score a touchdown and only got into the red zone one time on the final drive of the game.
Deshaun Watson ranks last in the league in total QBR (21.5), and the next closest is Will Levis (28.3), who literally looks like he’s trying to lose games for the Titans. Here’s a stat from ESPN: “QBR has existed since 2007, and among passers who threw 100 pass attempts or more across their team’s first six games, Watson’s season ranks 558th out of 566.”
Here’s another fun one from the Ringer: “Through Weeks 1-6 this season, Watson has generated a negative -66.2 EPA on dropbacks, beating Russell’s -62.8 EPA on dropbacks in Weeks 1-6 in 2009 for the record low this millennium”
Nothing guarantees that Watson would be producing this poorly for the Falcons, but it’s not like he’d be the same Pro Bowler that he was with the Texans. The Browns deserve a share of the blame, but Watson is the driving force in their underwhelming offense.
The Falcons, Arthur Blank in particular, better thank their lucky stars that the Browns forked over that fully guaranteed contract a few offseasons ago, or we could be in a similar position as Cleveland.
I’m happy we didn’t end up with Deshaun Watson, but Arthur Blank deserves criticism, and the entire Falcons organization should be ashamed that they pushed out Matt Ryan to pursue him.
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Photographer: Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire
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