QB Deshaun Watson (11.15.23)
When did you realize that there was something really wrong with your shoulder?
“It’s really hard to say. I guess I felt something pretty much towards the end of the first quarter. Then I had time. I kind of recognized something was wrong, but during the midst of the game, I was just pushing through whatever I was feeling. And then after the game and Monday and Tuesday, we got testing done, and that’s when I found out from the doctors that it was something worse than what we thought it was.”
Deshaun, can you go through your emotions now that this news is settling in you’re going to be out for this season and not be able to finish it with the team?
“It’s very tough. Hurt about it, but I’m going to make sure I keep my head above water and make sure I stay in touch with all the guys and support them as much as I possibly can and attack this rehab process after surgery and make sure that I’m doing whatever I can to be beneficial for the team while not actually being on the field with them and also prepping for the next year.”
Do you know exactly what hit it was?
“I have no idea. I’m not even sure. We’ve been trying to figure that out, too, the last couple of days, and it could have been any one of those hits at the time. Like I said, I was, of course, feeling something, but in the midst of a game and with everything going on, I was just trying to lock in on the next play to try to get the victory.”
Do you know when you’ll have surgery?
“Sometime next week, if I’m not mistaken.”
Are you completely 100% positive that this has nothing to do whatsoever with your previous shoulder injury?
“I have no idea. I’m not sure. I found out all this information yesterday. Yeah, I’m still trying to process everything that’s going on. So just like everyone that was coming in Monday, I thought just banged up a little bit and we’ll get ready for Pittsburgh. But yesterday was a different story.”
Do you think you would have been able to play with your ankle injury?
“Oh, for sure. Yeah, that was my mindset. I said coming in, look at the shoulder. Shoulder will be fine, dealing with whatever we’re dealing with, and then make sure we focus on the ankle enough so I can go out there and perform. But it took a different turn in the process.”
What have they told you about the rehab and recovery, what you’re facing over the next couple of months?
“Yeah, it’s going to be a couple of months. And the biggest thing is mobility and just the range of motion and then the strength and stuff will work out. But I’m going to be working with some great doctors and great staff that dealt with this process before with a lot of professional baseball guys and make sure that I come back even better than before.”
Are you aware of any quarterbacks who have gone through this injury and come back?
“Not right now, not this particular injury. I have no idea. Maybe there’s someone, but I’m not sure.”
How frustrating is it seems like every time you seem to be turning the corner, the Tennessee game, the Baltimore game, you sort of kind of run into one of these roadblocks? How frustrating is that fact?
“It’s very frustrating, but hey, it’s part of life, and what I’ve been able to deal with my 28 years of my life. It’s just another stone that’s in the way. And I have faith in myself and my lord that I will overcome it. So, I’m going to be straight and I’m going to get through it for sure.”
The way you’re talking, I mean, it sounds like you’re surprised that this injury is the extent that it is. Were you in disbelief when they told you and even now, I guess?
“Yeah. I’m still in disbelief. Just trying to process all the information that I’ve been getting since last night. It’s tough. I felt like were turning a corner to really make a run and, you know, I still believe we still will with the guys in this locker room. You know, I just wanted to be physically a part of it on the field with those guys, and six weeks I was down and try to come back and two weeks later back at it again. It’s tough to try to wrap everything around my head right now.”
Andrew (Berry) said that you tried really hard after being diagnosed with the shoulder, that you tried hard to kind of wanting to play through the rest of the season. How hard did you push for that and how disappointing was it when you found out you couldn’t go?
“I pushed very hard for it to the point where all the experts and doctors were the ones that told me that there was no chance. So, I pushed as far as I possibly could to get back out there and just try to play and try to push it towards after the season. But I think the best situation for, I guess, longevity in my career is to be able to get immediate surgery, and that’s what all the experts said. So, I got to follow their footsteps and go from there.”
How important is it going to be for you after you get through the rehab process to be back here with your teammates and around the team as you kind of get yourself through it as well?
“Yeah, it’s going to be very important to get back around here and be around the guys, but I’ve already had a lot of guys tell me wherever I’m rehabbing and training at, they’re going to come out there and spend some time with me, which is pretty dope. So, we’re going to have that bond. The connection is going to always be there. My phone is going to always be on loud for those guys and they know they can call me or pull up on me anytime they get free.”
6-3, who do you think is best suited to take your place?
“You said do what?”
The team is 6-3 and right in it. Who do you think is the best candidate to replace you now?
“Whoever’s the next man up, anybody that’s going to be able to step in and perform. So, Kevin (Stefanski) and those guys will make sure we’re ready to go and they’re going to be ready to perform and take this team as far as we need to go.”
But how confident are you that you’ll be able to come back and be the player that you think you should be?
“Well, I’m very confident. Very confident in the doctors that are going to be doing the surgery and the rehab and very confident in my rehab and my mindset and my determination to get back is strong.”.
Do you have any idea when you’re going to be able to throw a football again?
“It depends on everything. Maybe hopefully in two months, three months.”
The pain that you’re feeling, is it more frustration, like internally because you’re not allowed to play, or are you physically feeling like, man, if I had to throw a football right now, I probably couldn’t?
“I mean, it’s both. It’s very painful. The whole second half was painful to throw the football. It’s a bone that’s fractured in my shoulder, so no type of medicine or anything is going to stop the pain from that. But it’s just frustrating all around, just not being able to play and just the injuries, but I can’t control certain injuries. And from what the experts told me, that certain injury and then the high ankle sprain are things that happens with everybody in the game.”
What do you think that you showed people Sunday against the Ravens coming out going 14 for 14 on a broken shoulder, high ankle sprain, pulling out the biggest game of the season in a place where you guys never win?
“I just want to win. That’s all I was focused on is just winning. I didn’t care how we did it. Whatever we need to do to turn that game around and to win and leave everything out there on the field, and that’s what I was focused on.”
Are you comforted at all in the knowledge that you kind of went out like that on such a joyous moment for your teammates and your fans?
“Yeah, it was good. It was cool. But the ultimate goal is that Super Bowl, so I won’t have that opportunity. But my teammates got the opportunity and I pray and know that they’ll do whatever they can to get that ultimate goal and I’m going to be right there supporting them and boosting them up, hyping them up. The win was awesome, but the ultimate goal was to try to go all the way.”
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