Deshaun Watson will not play for Browns at Seattle Seahawks; P.J. Walker will start at QB

BEREA — The "will he or won't he" play game won't happen this week with Deshaun Watson. The Browns already know that he won't play when they travel to play the Seattle Seahawks.

Wednesday, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski ruled out Watson, who returned from a three-week absence to start — but not finish — this past Sunday's win at the Indianapolis Colts. P.J. Walker, who was signed to the active roster earlier in the day, will start his second game for the Browns on Sunday.

Watson continues to battle through the strained rotator cuff in his right shoulder he sustained a month ago in the Week 3 win over the Tennessee Titans. He returned to the field for roughly a quarter in this past Sunday's win at the Colts before leaving with 3:13 remaining in the first quarter after being knocked down on a pass play by defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo.

"Deshaun's just going to focus on his rehab," Stefanski said Wednesday. "I just feel like, with what happened in the game, landing on his shoulder, there's residual swelling that's affecting his throwing. I think it's the best thing for him to rest it this week and focus on the rehab. As I've told you guys, I will always make what I feel are the best decisions for our football team, for Deshaun, and I feel like this is the best decision."

The injury has created a month's worth of questions about decisions surrounding Watson's status. The fact it even existed didn't become public until the Wednesday prior to the Browns' Week 4 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, when he didn't throw in practice.

Watson maintained that he was going to play against the Ravens, right up until he was ruled out hours before kickoff. Since then, he's missed the Week 6 win over the San Francisco 49ers after not practicing all week, then played 12 plays in Sunday's game against the Colts after two days of practices.

At the bye week between the Ravens and 49ers games, both Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry indicated they didn't think the injury was a long-term concern. Both stressed the lack of any structural damage, something Stefanski reiterated on Wednesday.

Still, Watson's status has loomed over everything, despite the Browns' 4-2 record. Sunday will mark the third game he's missed in its entirety, and he essentially only played a quarter in the one game in which he was in uniform.

"I just think these are injuries," Stefanski said. "This is a quarterback, it's a shoulder injury, so you're taking in information every single day. Again, I can't tell you how much time Deshaun has spent trying to get back, but we'll continue to just make the smart decisions for our football team for him. But it's just that's injuries. You just have to go with the information that you have."

Watson attempted just five passes over the course of 12 plays — four offensive series — against the Colts, completing only a 5-yard pass to Donovan Peoples-Jones. He threw one interception and had another one, on the play in which he left the game, reversed on review.

Stefanski acknowledged multiple times seeing the hit on Watson led him to keep the quarterback on the bench. A league-issued independent neurologist cleared Watson of a concussion, which was the only thing the Browns ever announced during the game.

"There's no structural damage," Stefanski said. "Based on the MRI there is, like I mentioned, residual swelling. That's why it's just important for him to focus on rehab this week."

Instead of re-inserting Watson, Stefanski elected to stay with Walker, who had started the 49ers game but hadn't practiced with the first-team offense since the Wednesday before the game. The fourth-year pro who had been on the practice squad until Wednesday finished 15-of-32 passing for 178 yards, an interception, two sacks and a 51.3 passer rating.

Walker did help to lead a go-ahead 12-play, 80-yard scoring march, capped by Kareem Hunt's 1-yard run with 15 seconds remaining. He was 3-of-8 for 50 yards on the drive, and was aided by back-to-back Colts penalties, including an illegal contact call that negated what would've been his game-ending fumble.

It was the second time in the last month a quarterback received little lead-up before being thrown into the fire on game day. Rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson did get the first-team reps on passing plays leading into the Ravens game, but didn't have an idea he was starting until less than three hours before kickoff.

"Sometimes as a backup you get that amount of lead time, sometimes you don't and that's just life in the big city when it comes to backup quarterbacks," Stefanski said. "So he'll prepare like he always does. Dorian will prepare like he always does, but P.J. will start this week.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Deshaun Watson ruled out against the Seahawk; P.J. Walker will start