During the Browns’ latest preseason game, Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit confusingly talked in detail about Deshaun Watson, his allegations.
During the Cleveland Browns’ preseason win over the New England Patriots, their quarterback Deshaun Watson’s off-field controversies — he was hit with allegations of sexual misconduct and assult by over 20 women — arose as Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit discussed it for several minutes, which was polarizing, to say the least.
In the second quarter, Michaels and Herbstreit talked about his off-field scandal for three minutes. Michaels recapped Watson’s fall from grace, noting how he’s trying to “save a career that right now looks like it’s bottomed out,” saying, “He’s got a chance to bounce back.”
Herbstreit agreed, talking about the Browns’ new offensive system and personnel. He talked about Watson’s controversial comments from after their loss to the Buffalo Bills in the preseason, defending why he might’ve said what he did.
Well, this was certainly… something. pic.twitter.com/vb2VUDUhwn
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) August 28, 2026
“He kind of lost his cool after that game in Buffalo. If you put yourself on the field, and you think about — you’re in your home stadium, and obviously, it’s been a disaster, but you can see how a guy can lose his cool and say something like that,” Herbstreit said, seemingly rationalizing Watson’s comments.
The comments Herbstreit was talking about came after the Browns’ loss to the Buffalo Bills. Afterward, Watson called the fans “disrespectful” for booing him, saying that it felt “personal” and “has nothing to do with the performance.”
He would apologize for this after being named the team’s starting quarterback. Watson admitted that his “emotions got the best of me” in the moment.
“I think human nature, just myself being very emotional, putting a lot of time these last two years to get back and spend time in this facility, in the city, meeting a lot of different people in the community, thought I was going to get a little different response, but I think my emotions got the best of me, and my comments wasn’t intending to go at any of the fans around in the city because there’s been a lot of great fans that have been supporting me.”
When Michaels next spoke, he talked about how the Houston Texans fanbase “loved him” during his time there. He noted how Watson gave up his first paycheck to three women working in the team’s cafeteria facility whose houses were damaged or destroyed in a hurricane.
Herbstreit believes that “everybody was kind of surprised” when the allegations against Watson came out. He believes “everybody deserves second opportunities,” and while the QB’s run in Cleveland hasn’t been great, he believes the 30-year-old could still turn things around.
As Athlon Sports noted, this felt like a contrived moment. Prime Video had the video of Watson hugging the cafeteria workers he gave his paycheck to “ready to roll.”
Ultimately, Prime Video glossed over a lot of facts. It painted Watson, as Athlon Sports says, as a “once-great player who got in some unspecified off-field trouble, went through some injuries, and is simply trying to resuscitate his career.”
In fact, that is not the case. The allegations arose in March 2021 when a Houston massage therapist filed a civil lawsuit. Unfortunately, more than 20 women came forward and filed civil lawsuits against him, accusing him of sexual misconduct and assault.
During the Cleveland Browns’ preseason win over the New England Patriots, their quarterback Deshaun Watson’s off-field controversies — he was hit with allegations of sexual misconduct and assult by over 20 women — arose as Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit discussed it for several minutes, which was polarizing, to say the least.
