Should Browns QB Deshaun Watson Have Been Ejected?

Late in the third quarter, Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was flushed out of the pocket and grabbed  Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Kwon Alexander’s facemask as he went out of bounds for no gain. Watson was penalized for unnecessary roughness, which backed the Browns up to a third-and-25 situation instead of third-and-10. The Browns did not convert and punted.

As expected, Alexander took exception with Deshaun Watson grabbing his facemask and he let him know about it. Watson was jawing with several Steelers players on the sideline, as well. Steelers second-year wide receiver George Pickens was one of the players who was letting Watson have it.

During the trash-talking, Watson actually pushed a ref, which by rule should have got him ejected from the game. The officials missed this, however.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wrote on X, “Deshaun Watson made contact with official. Should be ejected.”

Jordan Dajani of CBS Sports posted the clip, and it showed that Watson did in fact make contact with the official.

Deshaun Watson can’t push the ref like that pic.twitter.com/sbEdQkVwXH

— Jordan Dajani (@JordanDajani) September 19, 2023

“You get the feeling a lot of guys hate Watson, for good reason, and he can’t take being a heel. Shoulda been thrown out of game already. He’s a joke,” Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post wrote on X.

Watson was called for another facemask penalty in the fourth quarter, this time on Steelers outside linebacker Nick Herbig. It’s expected that the league office will give Watson a hefty fine later this week for multiple infractions.