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Deshaun Watson goes from Cleveland villain to hero in Browns upset win, as home crowd turns jeers to cheers

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Salguero, A. (2026, September 27). Deshaun Watson goes from Cleveland villain to hero in Browns upset win, as home crowd turns jeers to cheers. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/deshaun-watson-cleveland-villain-hero-browns-upset-win-home-crowd-jeers-cheers

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Fox News · collected 2026-09-27 · by Armando Salguero

Quick Summary

Deshaun Watson turned around the crowd's opinion during Cleveland Browns' upset win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Initially booed by fans due to past controversies and underwhelming performance, Watson received cheers and chants of "Let's go Watson" as he led the team back from a 12-10 deficit in the fourth quarter with two passing touchdowns. The article highlights how Watson’s comeback win earned him some redemption from Cleveland fans despite previous tensions over his large contract and suspension.
Written by AI on 2026-09-27, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Deshaun Watson, the embattled quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, faced potential boos from fans during Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers. However, after passing for 238 yards and two touchdowns in last week’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Watson helped quiet some of the criticism temporarily. Despite this performance, many Cleveland fans remain critical of the team's decision to trade for him in 2022, viewing it as one of the worst trades in NFL history. In Sunday's game at home, Watson's play turned around fan sentiment, with chants of "Let's go Watson" heard throughout the stadium. This shift came after a stunning upset win against the favored Panthers, demonstrating that good on-field performance can quickly change public opinion. Coach Todd Monken emphasized that consistent positive football is key to winning back fan support, as the Browns have not been 2-1 since 2023.

Written for “Watson Browns Debut Reception” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Watson Browns Debut Reception
Sports · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 12% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Toronto Star
Hedges 1 of 38 claims Outlet record 64/100
Toronto Star
Hedges 0 of 26 claims Outlet record 64/100
“The articles describe different games; ARTICLE A mentions an upset win over the Carolina Panthers, while ARTICLE B describes a victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
The Guardian
Hedges 0 of 22 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles describe different games involving Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns, with one being an upset win over the Carolina Panthers and the other a narrow victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Toronto Star
Hedges 1 of 29 claims Outlet record 64/100
“Article A describes Deshaun Watson turning around fan sentiment during a game against the Carolina Panthers, while Article B discusses his performance and impact in previous games leading up to and including a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.”
Toronto Star
Hedges 2 of 31 claims Outlet record 64/100
“Article A describes a single game where the crowd's attitude towards Deshaun Watson changed, while Article B discusses the team's overall improvement from their season start to being atop the AFC North.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
24
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
12%
3 of 24 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
69/100
Fox News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-27 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Fox News · 6257 article(s) · 11 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 11 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Armando Salguero
95 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The NFL said in a statement Saturday that it is reviewing the previously unreported allegations that Jacobs physically abused multiple women whose existence came to light amid the investigation into the May 23 incident that was well-chronicled.
🔮 The joke will be that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers set back the modern-day NFL offense by decades on Sunday by failing to complete even one pass, something which had happened only one other time during the Super Bowl era.
🔮 This is a breaking story and will be updated.
🔮 If the Ravens' worst fears about a dislocation or fracture become the situation they must navigate, Jackson will probably miss more than just the remainder of this game.
🔮 You may have a great offense, but you will not win a Super Bowl.
🔮 The Packers' interest, at whatever level that has reached, shows the team's willingness to move on from Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs, who is currently on their roster but has been a disappointment and something of a headaches because of his legal problems.
🔮 And as the most curious calls went against the Packers, it doesn't surprise that team's postgame media session was replete with a withering review of the poor officiating work – led by safety Xavier McKinney who called the officiating "bulls–t." This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners.
🔮 This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners.
🔮 "Qu’un sang impur abreuve nos sillons" means "May impure blood water our furrows/fields."
🔮 This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners.
Also by Armando Salguero
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 95 articles by Armando Salguero →

Topics

Browns Carolina Panthers Cleveland FOX FOX News

Subjects

Watson PERSON · 12× Browns ORG · 2× NFL ORG · 2× Carolina ORG · 1× Carolina Panthers ORG · 1× Cleveland GPE · 1× Deshaun Watson PERSON · 1× FOX ORG · 1× FOX News ORG · 1× Princely Umanmielen PERSON · 1×

Narrative

But, yes, maybe some of the ire Watson felt from fans previously was because of his huge contract, and inability to live up to the money the past four years, and the NFL suspension Watson had to accept in 2022, and the reason for that suspension, which was tied to alleged sexual assaults of two dozen female massage therapists.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-27
🔮 This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners.

Claims (24 extracted, 3 hedged)

There was a stunning upset in Cleveland on Sunday as the Browns beat the favored Carolina Panthers , but it had nothing to do with the outcome and everything to do with quarterback Deshaun Watson. asserted
it → be → Watson
The dude turned the hometown crowd's boos to cheers. asserted
dude → turn → cheers
The people who have grown to seriously dislike their starting quarterback, many of them angrily barking at him from the Dawg Pound in all sorts of unfriendly tones, were actually chanting, "Let's go Watson" before this game was over. asserted
game → grow → tones
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. uncertain
page → contain → partners
If you sign up or place a wager, FOX News may be compensated. uncertain
News → sign → wager
This content was created by a team that works independently from the FOX newsroom. asserted
that → create → newsroom
About the only boos Watson could hear in the second half of this one was when he was sacked during a crucial third down by Carolina edge rusher Princely Umanmielen for a seven-yard loss, but replays on the big screens showed Umanmielen grabbing and twisting Watson’s facemask without a call from an official. uncertain
Umanmielen → hear → official
There hasn't been a turnaround like this since Apple Inc. rose from near bankruptcy in the 1990s. asserted
Inc. → rise → 1990s
Watson barely heard anything other than approval from the home crowd. asserted
Watson → hear → crowd
"I was hearing the crowd, the yelling the positivity," Watson said afterward. asserted
Watson → hear → crowd
I didn't hear any of [the boos], but at the same time, I was just trying to give them something to cheer about and we got that W so that's all that matters." Stunning. asserted
that → hear → W
These words seem foreign to anyone who heard that press conference Watson gave during the preseason when he called the home crowd "disrespectful" for booing him when he injured his Achilles in 2024 and then again in the preseason when he played his first game back at Huntington Bank Field. asserted
he → seem → Field
He added that it was "personal" between him and the crowd and having nothing to do with his performance. asserted
it → add → performance
And, well, it has something to do with performance. asserted
it → have → performance
Watson's two passing touchdowns and the comeback win proved that because suddenly the folks who didn't like him very much previously seemed to approve. asserted
who → prove → him
But, yes, maybe some of the ire Watson felt from fans previously was because of his huge contract, and inability to live up to the money the past four years, and the NFL suspension Watson had to accept in 2022, and the reason for that suspension, which was tied to alleged sexual assaults of two dozen female massage therapists. asserted
which → feel → therapists
All of that made Browns fans unwilling to cut their quarterback a break. asserted
fans → make → break
But Watson seemed to win some of them back, at least for one afternoon, when his team erased a 12-10 deficit in the fourth quarter. asserted
team → seem → quarter
No, it didn't take a lot. asserted
it → take → lot
This was, by the way, Watson's first regular-season home game of this season and first since that 2024 game in which he ruptured his Achilles. asserted
he → rupture → Achilles
"From the moment I woke up, just the anticipation, just the anxiousness, just everything, just to get in front of the fans, just to get here, just to get started," Watson said in describing what drove him. "I wanted to play perfect so bad, but, you know, that's the NFL with its ups and downs ... asserted
that → wake → ups
They kept believing in us. asserted
They → keep → us
They kept the energy up ... asserted
They → keep → energy
And we just continued to feed off that energy of the crowd." asserted
we → continue → crowd
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