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Watson reveals how he plans to avoid more sacks after Steelers loss
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Deshaun Watson reveals how he plans to avoid more sacks after Steelers loss

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson finished Sunday's 27-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers with 324 passing yards and a 94.4 rating, a stat line that in most cases comes with more than two field goals. 

It also came with eight sacks, a total that tied his career high and cost Cleveland 41 yards.

"It's tough. You just got to get rid of the ball, find completions as much as I possibly can, try to find my checkdowns. So just really just try to get the ball out of my hands. Don't try to be a hero, try to make the play, extend the play as much as possible," Watson said postgame, via reporter Camryn Justice.

Watson named two options, the quick throw and the extended play, and Pittsburgh spent the afternoon taking away the second one.

"They did a good job at sitting in their pockets and not allowing me to get out of the lanes and escape zones," Watson added, via Justice.

The quick throw worked often enough for 27 completions in 39 attempts, with tight end Harold Fannin Jr. catching 10 of them for 154 yards. Cleveland reached the Pittsburgh 2-yard line in the fourth quarter, only to have rookie Denzel Boston's one-handed catch ruled incomplete on fourth down, and the game ended on a false start at the Pittsburgh 1.

What can the Browns change before the Saints game?

Cleveland ran 15 times for 34 yards after gaining 112 on the ground in a 27-24 win over Pittsburgh on Oct. 1, when Watson took two sacks. A defense with no reason to respect the run can bring extra rushers on passing downs, and Watson said the Steelers blitzed far more in this meeting. The New York Jets also sacked him eight times on Oct. 11, so two of the Browns' last four games have now gone this way.

"We've got to figure out how to stop the run better. We've got to figure out how to not have as many sacks as we had today," HC Todd Monken said on Sunday after the game, via Fox 8 Cleveland.

The Browns fell to 5-3 and out of first place in the AFC North with the loss, their 23rd straight in the regular season in Pittsburgh. They visit the New Orleans Saints on Nov. 8.

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