LANDOVER, Md. — Donovan Peoples-Jones knew he should’ve caught the ball. More than that, the Browns receiver knew his quarterback, Deshaun Watson, knew he should’ve caught the ball.
Yet, on the very next play, Watson went right back to Peoples-Jones. This time, he didn’t just bring the ball into his hands, he carried across the goal line as well.
That catch helped the Browns open up a two-score third-quarter lead in what turned into a 24-10 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday.
“It means a lot,” Peoples-Jones said of Watson going right back to him. “It means that he trusts me, he’s going to keep coming back to me. He told me that, so I appreciate that.”
The drop that could’ve been costly came on second-and-9 from the Washington 13 with 43 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The score came on a crossing route in which Peoples-Jones was wide open after he ran past a sagging Darrick Forrest, catching it at about the 8 and then running through a tackle by Kendall Fuller to fall into the end zone.
It was the second of three second-half touchdown passes for Watson, and it helped the Browns turn a 7-3 halftime deficit into a 17-7 lead with 36 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
“I seen the corner was off from the first pass,” Watson said. “He had it and the corner made a good play. But like I told 11 (Peoples-Jones) and I told everyone else on the offense, just because you drop a ball doesn’t mean I’m not going to come back to you. I don’t lose confidence in my brothers, I don’t lose confidence in what we’re doing on offense. They get paid, too, and we gotta make plays and we wasn’t doing that in the first half.
“But like you said on that one, I came back to him. We read the coverage right. DPJ came across the middle and I gave it to him and he finished the play.”
It was the only catch of the game for Peoples-Jones, who was targeted a total of three times on 18 pass attempts by Watson.
That, however, shouldn’t be an indication of some kind of lack of trust Watson has in the third-year receiver out of Michigan. Peoples-Jones has been targeted on 26 passes over the last five games, catching 17 of them for 204 yards.
More importantly, Peoples-Jones has caught two of the five touchdown passes Watson has thrown in those starts.
“It’s good,” Peoples-Jones said of his connection with Watson. “It’s growing. Every day in practice we’re looking to get better, so that’s our mindset.”
Watson’s growth since returning from an 11-game suspension has been about building that connection with receivers such as Peoples-Jones. It’s not just about number of targets or number of catches, it’s about trust to go to someone in a given situation because of a confidence they’ll be where they’re supposed to be.
That’s why Watson felt like his best throw Sunday was the one to Peoples-Jones for the touchdown.
“We were actually talking about that on the sideline, honestly,” Watson said. “I think it was probably the DPJ one. It’s just both the crosser and the out route was good, and that was all Amari after that making a catch. But I think the DPJ one was really good because that was a red zone possession. That was a possession where he was a backside read and everything on the front side was developing. I read the coverage right and that was something that we worked on all week and we knew that they were going to be in that. So pre-snap I kind of knew I was going up to 11 and it opened up just like we wanted to.”
Browns keep getting their hands on takeaways to finish season
The Browns were having problems getting takeaways on defense through the first 10 games. It was such that defensive end Myles Garrett pointed it out after a Nov. 20 loss to Buffalo, at which point they had only gotten eight of them.
Things have changed over the last five games, though. The Browns have recorded 10 takeaways since a Week 13 win at Houston on Dec. 4.
“Well, we’re showing what we can be,” Garrett said Sunday. “We’ve been talking about doing this all year, and now we’re hitting our stride. It’s a little bit late, but just like last year we gotta be able to carry this into the next year and be able to use that momentum.”
That includes the three-takeaway day the Browns had against Washington. It started with Denzel Ward intercepting Carson Wentz on his second pass of the game, and ended with Grant Delpit getting two picks of his own, including one in the end zone.
The Browns have recorded at least one interception in each of the last five games. Sunday was the second time they’ve had at least two in a game, with the other when they had two in Houston.
“Yeah, we know we’ve been kind of light on picks this year, so it was good to bring,” said Delpit, who has three interceptions in the last two games and four for the season. “We had three today so whatever to help the team, help the defense. Denzel started it off and we had some opportunities that we took advantage of.”
Kevin Stefanski ‘frustrated’ yet fine with decision to take points off board
Kevin Stefanski has been aggressive in his approaches to fourth down. Famously, there was the decision to go for it on the opening drive against Atlanta in Week 4, and again in Week 14 against Cincinnati, both of which failed in losses.
The Browns coach, though, took the three points presented to him late in the first quarter when it was fourth-and-goal from the Washington 7. Cade York made the 25-yard field goal, which gave them a 6-0 lead.
Except the Commanders were offsides, giving the Browns another chance on fourth down if they wanted it from the 3. That’s exactly what Stefanski did, taking the points off the board and electing to put the ball in Watson’s hands.
But Watson was stopped for a 1-yard gain on fourth down, giving Washington the ball at its own 2.
“Yeah, frustrated,” Stefanski acknowledged. “Obviously it’s my decision. Felt good about the play. There’s things that we could have done differently, but all in all you want to stay aggressive when you can get sevens and then pin them back there. Felt confident with us pinning that defense, pinning their offense back there.”
Stefanski went for it on fourth down one other time, faced with fourth-and-1 from the Commanders 45. Jacoby Brissett came on for a quarterback sneak, which he picked up to keep what turned into the Browns’ final scoring drive alive.
The Browns were one of two on fourth down against Washington. For the season, they are 22 of 40.
Contact Chris at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com.
On Twitter: @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Donovan Peoples-Jones ‘appreciates’ trust Deshaun Watson showed on TD
