After destroying the still-winless Chargers in SoFi Stadium in Sunday afternoon, the Houston Texans were immediately met with game-altering—and potentially AFC playoff-impacting—news regarding their next opponents in the now 5-4 Cleveland Browns. Being confirmed by multiple reports, the Browns are deciding to roll with Deshaun Watson for the start at quarterback against the Texans in week 10.
This news is notable for several reasons, one of which being that it comes on the heels of backup quarterback Shedeur Sanders almost leading Cleveland to a big-time victory against the New Orleans Saints in a 23-22 overtime loss on Sunday afternoon. In the contest, the former Colorado signal caller went 19-31 (61.29%) for 297 passing yards, two touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 114.6 passer rating.
His performance brought his team right to the doorstep of a win. Except, his head coach and offensive coordinator Todd Monken decided to go for two instead of a game-tying extra point in overtime against the Saints, which resulted in an incomplete pass attempt to wide receiver Denzel Boston in the corner of the end zone (which would've been negated anyway due to a holding call on right tackle Tytus Howard).
And now with Watson back from clearing concussion protocol, the Texans will face off against a somewhat-dysfunctional (or a lot of dysfunctional) Browns squad that just lost a little ground in the AFC playoff race.
The Houston Texans have to now prepare for the returning Deshaun Watson in week 10's match up with the Cleveland Browns
Through eight games played, Watson has gone 163-249 (65.5%) for 1,806 passing yards, seven touchdowns, three interceptions, 217 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown and a 91.2 passer rating. His play helped Cleveland to a surprising 5-3 record and some time in first place in the AFC North (they're now in third place as of this past weekend). Having missed Sunday afternoon's game due to a delayed concussion from last week's meeting against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Watson is most likely itching to get back on the field so as to continue the team's winning ways with him in the lineup.
From the Texans' standpoint, it'll be business as usual. Beating the Browns will be more about not defeating themselves than it would be about anything in particular that Cleveland might scheme up. This is especially true considering that Cleveland currently ranks as the ninth-worst total offense in the NFL (307.8 YPG), along with being the fourth-worst scoring unit (17.9 PPG). Thus—on paper at least—Houston should be able to manage just fine regardless of who's slinging the football out of the Browns' backfield.
However, this is the 2026 version of the Texans we're talking about here, so any and everything could virtually be on the table for this group.
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