On his way off the field, for likely the final time as the Browns’ starter, a teary-eyed Jacoby Brissett bear-hugged a team staffer right outside the end zone. He then slowly made his way toward the tunnel, glancing up at the remaining fans. They stood and cheered for him. He gestured to cheer back at them. The rain was falling steadily now, Cleveland was still just 4–7, and none of it mattered—to the fans or quarterback—in the euphoria of an overtime win.
One of the first things he saw in the locker room, when he picked up his phone, still in his pads, was a text message from Deshaun Watson, who will take his job as of this morning. Watson, on the final day of his suspension for sexual harassment and sexual assault, expressed his appreciation for the job Brissett did.
From the new QB1 to those rain-soaked fans to the other 52 guys in that locker room to Kevin Stefanski and his staff, an appreciation for Brissett is what tied everyone at FirstEnergy Stadium together Sunday, following Cleveland’s 23–17 upset of Tom Brady’s Bucs.
“He’s just a great dude,” Stefanski said in a quiet moment, about an hour after Nick Chubb’s touchdown plunge closed Tampa Bay. “I mean, that’s the simple answer. He’s very engaging. He’s very, very intelligent. He’s extremely supportive. I gave him a game ball after the game just because he’s a team guy. He’s such a great teammate, and it’s all the things that nobody sees that he does in the locker room.
“After-hours calling, texting guys video clips of plays. Those go unnoticed. Not by me, but those can go unnoticed. Well, I should say, they don’t go unnoticed by me or his teammates. And he’s just a truly supportive person. I spend a ton of time with him, and I don’t know that I’ve been around a better teammate in my time. He’s a Hall of Fame teammate.”
This, to be sure, has been a really weird situation in Cleveland. Back in March, the Browns signed Brissett as, more or less, a temp—Cleveland knew Watson would be suspended when they traded for him but didn’t know for how long. It wasn’t until summer that the 11-game penalty became official. From there, the Browns had to simultaneously juggle preparing Brissett for the first three months of the season, and Watson to be the quarterback for the next five years.
No one is shedding any tears for the Browns, of course. It was their choice to send a war chest of picks to Houston for Watson, then give him a historic, fully guaranteed contract. A lot of people are still upset about it. There will be people in Houston next Sunday, for sure, who will voice that displeasure, when Watson makes his Browns debut in his old home city, where most of the accounts of his sexual misconduct initially emerged.
All of it has left a lot of Browns fans conflicted. But on this weird, wet Sunday in northeast Ohio, they could close the book on one chapter of this saga with smiles on their faces. And that was thanks to Brissett.
