His refusal to express remorse for alleged behavior that led to an 11-game suspension is more difficult to explain.
Watson made it clear earlier in the week he had no interest in discussing accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual harassment and assault during massage sessions. He has settled 23 civil lawsuits brought by the women, while two others, including one filed in October, are pending.
After playing his first game in 700 days against his former team in the stadium where he became a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback, Watson still wasn’t interested in talking about it.
“Like I said before, that’s something that legal and clinical have answered before, and they don’t want me to address anything like that,” Watson said, sticking to his script.
He even attributed boos to being on the visiting team instead of his actions toward women that were labeled “egregious” and “predatory” by an independent arbiter who gave him a six-game ban that the NFL appealed and increased.
“They’re supposed to boo. I’m a Cleveland Brown now, and we’re on the road. So, they’re supposed to do that,” Watson said after the Browns beat the Houston Texans 27-14 on Sunday.
Watson had plenty of supporters among the small crowd. He signed autographs for fans wearing his old Texans jersey and his new Browns jersey. He took selfies with a few others. Even former teammate Laremy Tunsil got a signed jersey from Watson.
