Browns

Watson pieced together his best performance of the season with a three-touchdown effort to lead the offense.

The game was decided when: Cooper caught his second touchdown of the day, a 33-yard pass that was perfectly placed by Watson over the head of a Commanders defender. The game will be played on either Saturday or Sunday, and the kickoff time has yet to be announced. Moment that mattered most: With 6:20 left in the third quarter, Watson orchestrated arguably his best drive yet with the Browns on a 12-play, 89-yard drive that featured several strong, accurate throws for first downs. The momentum continued to build for Watson, who found the end zone again on the next drive on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Watson to WR Donovan Peoples-Jones. Cooper led the Browns in receiving yards and played a major role in Watson's resurgence, and he achieved that total despite catching just three passes on four targets. That's the receiving total from Cooper, which is his highest in a game with Watson and his largest total since Week 11.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson threw three touchdowns to lead his team over the Washington Commanders, who heard boos for Carson Wentz on ...

The Browns (7-9) were already out of the race in the AFC but made good on tight end David Njoku's expectation they'd "give the Commanders hell." "We missed a couple of tackles," Rivera said. [the Commanders' postseason odds](https://www.foxnews.com/category/sports/nfl/washington-commanders) took a major hit with an embarrassing 24-10 defeat Sunday to the Cleveland Browns, who had nothing to play for. "We had a good game plan for him, and it worked out." "I tried to be aggressive, tried to force a couple throws early, obviously, and kind of put us in a hole," said Wentz, who similarly melted down with Indianapolis at this point last season when the Colts needed to win to get into the playoffs. Fans making up the sparse crowd booed and chanted early on for Heinicke multiple times after Wentz missed open receivers or lobbed the ball into the hands of a

Scoring updates and analysis for the Cleveland Browns' game at the Washington Commanders in Week 17 of the NFL regular season on New Year's Day.

Defensive end Chase Young and Forrest tackled Watson at the 2 for a turnover on downs with 18 seconds left in the opening quarter. On third-and-6 from the Washington 12, Wentz threw deep into double coverage, and Delpit intercepted the pass intended for wide receiver Curtis Samuel with 13:14 left in the second quarter. On fourth-and-goal, Wentz jumped and extended the ball with his right hand to score a 1-yard touchdown on a quarterback sneak. Later, Ward suffered a shoulder injury in the fourth quarter and did not return. However, the Browns went three-and-out and punted, leaving Stefanski vulnerable to being haunted for taking three points off the scoreboard. Later, Fields suffered what appeared to be a left shoulder injury early in the third quarter, though he returned to the action. The next series fizzled for Washington when defensive end Myles Garrett tallied a sack on third-and-8 from the 50. On third-and-5, Cooper caught a pass from Watson at the 36 on an out route, evaded a would-be tackle by cornerback Kendall Fuller and raced along the Cleveland sideline for a 46-yard touchdown reception. He caught the same number of TD passes in 2019 and 2021 with the Dallas Cowboys. The play capped a 12-play, 84-yard drive with 36 seconds left in the third quarter. The Browns announced he was questionable to return with an ankle injury. [Deshaun Watson became eligible to play](https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/pro/browns/2022/11/28/deshaun-watson-returns-nfl-suspension-start-cleveland-browns-quarterback-houston-texans-week-12/69681447007/).

LANDOVER, MD — The Cleveland Browns defense made life miserable for Washington Commander quarterback Carson Wentz in a 24-10 victory Sunday afternoon at ...

The Browns took control in the third quarter when Watson threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Cooper to give them a 10-7 lead. Cleveland concludes the 2022 season at Pittsburgh on January 8. They drove to the Cleveland one-yard line where Wentz scored on fourth and goal to cap a 21 play, 96-yard drive and give Washington a 7-3 halftime lead. Cleveland responded with a nine play, 75-yard scoring drive that Watson capped with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper to expand it 24-10 with 5:21 remaining. The Browns defense intercepted Wentz three times and also sacked him three times. Washington forced the Browns to a three-and-out and their next offensive series, Wentz threw a 20-yard completion to Jahan Dotson on third and 17 for a Washington first down.

The Browns defense made the plays necessary to get a win over Washington, from a three-and-out to start the third quarter to three interceptions.

"We gotta be able to get off the field on that 21-play drive. Cornerback Denzel Ward, who left the game with a shoulder injury, stepped in front of Wentz's second pass for an interception, which started the booing and chants for Heinicke. We came in and reminded ourselves in the locker room at halftime, we've got to start over, 0-0, come out like we did the start of the game, and that's what we did." The Browns, meanwhile, walked off the field having turned around a game that looked dicey at halftime. Like you said, past weeks we've been letting guys move the ball down the field at the start of the third quarter, so we said we were going to be strong in the third. Wentz was named the starter against the Browns early last week in a move that was met by skepticism from Commanders fans, then outright boos and hostility once he threw his first pick Sunday. That's exactly what the Browns did to start the second half. The first half ended with Washington chewing up 11:27 of the final 11:48 by going on a 21-play, 96-yard march that ended with quarterback Carson Wentz's 1-yard fourth-down score to give the Commanders a 7-3 lead with 21 seconds remaining. "A lot of one guy was either out of his gap and a hit here or hit there. That turnaround, though, may have started with not a [single offensive player](https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/pro/browns/2023/01/02/pain-amari-cooper-making-big-plays-cleveland-browns-win-deshaun-watson-commanders-nick-saban-alabama/69756184007/) on the field. "I mean it was a lot of nit-picky stuff," defensive end Myles Garrett said of the halftime conversation. Specifically, it may have started with their defense on the first series of the third quarter.

After an ignominious opening two quarters, quarterback Deshaun Watson led the Cleveland to three second half touchdowns, defeating the Washington Commanders ...

Cooper was able to run the rest of the way, fighting the ball inside the pylon for the score. Grant Delpit closed the door with an interception in the end zone on the next drive, his second of the game. Finally, with time to throw the ball, found a wide open Cooper near the right hash for a completion. In what seemed like an opportunity for the Browns to set the tone and perhaps run clock with Chubb, the Browns used him as a decoy on the first two plays of their third drive of the second half. It was the best read play of the season and the fake created a massive running lane for Watson. Commanders edge rusher Casey Toohill was able to stop him a few feet short of the first down. The Browns defense would surrender a four-yard run on the proceeding first down play, but rallied with a run stuff and a tackle for loss on a pass to the flat which linebacker Deion Jones was able to sniff out. First, the Browns tried to run a stretch bootleg with Watson. The second play, Watson meshed a handoff with Chubb, pulled it and ran up the middle. The Commanders kicked a field goal, which reduced the Browns lead to just a single score. A handoff to Chubb only gained a yard and Watson was unable to connect with Donovan Peoples-Jones, setting up a 3rd-and-9 situation from the Commanders 13-yard line. Coming out of a half in which the Browns were trailing 7-3, the defense promptly forced a three-and-out.