DeShaun Watson looked pedestrian against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2026 opener. Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken immediately threw his support for the embattled quarterback. But is Watson defensive of how he played during the embarrassing 34-10 loss?

Watson made his long-awaited start behind center in nearly 700 days. Plus ousted Shedeur Sanders for the title of QB1 at Cleveland.

But Watson completed 16-of-22 passes for just 205 yards, tossed one touchdown and got picked off once. He also took five sacks too in the lopsided defeat.

So Watson once again is facing criticism for how he played. Yet he flashed a smile in addressing his bad start.

“[I'm] just [going to] keep moving forward and keep smiling,” Watson said postgame. “I have a lot of support in that locker room after the game. I was told ‘keep your head up, keep pushing forward.' So that's always positive to see.”

Watson added: “Adversity is going to be there. So you've got to embrace it. That's the only way. I thought it was going to be two years ago [with the adversity]. But I guess not. So just embrace it, keep pushing through until you break that wall.”

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He's also confident that next week will present a better chance to improve himself.

“Each week is different,” Watson added. “We move on from this one and tomorrow, and it's a new day.”

Still, Watson continues to look like a shell of his past All-Pro self from the Houston Texans. His Browns career features injuries, a lengthy suspension for violating the league's personal conduct policy, and inconsistency. The latter showed down in Jacksonville.