Cleveland Browns 'focus on going 1-0 this week' despite losing Deshaun Watson for season

BEREA — Rodney McLeod has seen what can happen to a team that is winning, only to lose its starting quarterback for the season. It happened to him and his Philadelphia Eagles teammates in 2017.

Carson Wentz, who was in the midst of a MVP-caliber season for the Eagles, suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 14. That left Philadelphia with Nick Foles at quarterback, and all he did was help lead the team to a win in the Super Bowl that year over the New England Patriots.

Six years later, McLeod is on a different team — the Browns — faced with a different season-ending quarterback injury, Deshaun Watson's right throwing shoulder. The message, though, didn't change Wednesday any more than what it was six years earlier.

"It really takes everybody continuing to do what they've done up to this point," McLeod said. "Just put in the work each and every day. You don't need to do anything other than that. Nothing super extraordinary but just be yourself. That's allowed us to be here today and something that we do all the time. We break it down on team, and this is the greatest team sport. Not one man determines a win or a loss. So that is the kind of message that we're sticking on this week with the recent news, and so it's really that simple."

Obviously, it's a little more complex than that in application. The reality is the Browns go from Watson, a three-time Pro Bowler who will undergo surgery to prevent any further structural damage after suffering a displaced fracture of the glenoid bone, to Dorian Thompson-Robinson, a rookie with just one previous start in his career.

Thompson-Robinson, who was pressed into a starting role because of Watson's rotator cuff strain a Week 4 home loss to the Baltimore Ravens, will start this Sunday's AFC North showdown between the Browns (6-3) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-3). He will do so with the team's goal still very much achievable.

"That was (coach) Kevin (Stefanski's) message early on," McLeod said. "He just put 1-0 up after the devastating news, 1-0, because it doesn't change, and that's what we're here to do."

That was the message Stefanski has been preaching to the Browns players all season. Part of that is because he's also been talking about not allowing players to get too far ahead of themselves.

Watson joins what is already a lengthy list of key Browns players who have suffered season-ending injuries. They lost All-Pro right tackle Jack Conklin to a knee injury in Week 1, then lost their "heart and soul," running back Nick Chubb, to a knee injury in Week 2.

"I feel like it's just another test for this team," cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. said. "We've been tested, battle tested a lot this year, and I feel like that's what's defining us and bringing us together. So just another obstacle."

That was the same message multiple players spoke about inside a jubilant locker room in Baltimore, moments after the Browns rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half to beat the Ravens. They spoke about everyone doing 1/11th or of just going 1-0 that week.

Back then, of course, the thought was that they would have Watson — fresh off a 14-of-14 passing, 134-yard second-half performance — going forward. Three days later, the quarterback has changed, but not the message.

That's even as the Browns still try to process the news about their quarterback.

“Losing your franchise quarterback obviously is never ideal, but I feel like the mood in our locker room is opportunity," linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. said. "We all understand that it sucks losing Deshaun, but we have an opportunity to keep the season going. We're in a great position right now. We control our own destiny, and that's our mindset right now.

"So obviously we love our brother, we want him to be out there with us, but right now we have to focus on going 1-0 this week.”

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Deshaun Watson's injury doesn't change Browns focus on 'going 1-0'