After Jaguars fans gave Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson a hostile reception in the 2022 preseason opener, Browns offensive lineman Joel Bitonio said, “It seems like more than ever, Cleveland against the world, so we’ll be ready for it.”
Plenty of people reacted to Bitonio’s remarks, given the context, by siding with the world.
On Wednesday, Bitonio reacted to the backlash by sort of trying to play the “out of context” card.
“Yeah, I noticed it,” Bitonio told reporters on Wednesday, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I noticed, and what I said was, we’re going to go to stadiums and we’re going to get booed by people no matter who’s playing quarterback for us and as a team we come out and say ‘Cleveland against the world.’ If people want to take that in the wrong context or talk about it in the wrong context, that’s their opinion but I know we have good people on this team that are working hard and trying to be the best for the Cleveland Browns and that’s where I am at as a player who has been here for nine years, and if someone wants to think that I don’t love and appreciate things in my life, that’s their opinion. . . . But I know where I’m at and where I’m at with Cleveland and the people on this team.”
But that’s not what he said, and what he said was characterized in the proper context. The context was that, while the road team always gets booed, the road team that has Deshaun Watson as a member of the team will get booed even more, especially when Watson plays.
Bitonio basically reiterated that point on Wednesday.
“I’m sure every stadium we go, we’ll be booed,’’ Bitonio said. “I don’t know if it will get worse. I think people get tired of booing, you know? But I’m sure every time he goes out there, there’ll be some sort of boo to start the game and we’ll kind of go from there. . . . I think once Deshaun came out of the game we got booed less but you go to a road game, they boo you anyway, so you know what I mean? So we’ll see how it goes.”
Watson will relentlessly be booed, especially if he never abandons his ongoing insistence that he’s innocent. There will be boos. There will be chants. There will be signs. There will be a specific reason to direct greater, and specific, hostility at the Browns, because the Browns are the team that embraced Deshaun Watson. And Bitonio’s initial reaction to that reality was to basically embrace Watson, too, by saying, “Cleveland against the world.”
The Browns don’t seem to be embracing Bitonio’s latest remarks. The transcript that the team circulated after Bitonio’s press conference omitted the remarks. Also, as of the time this article was posted, the video of Bitonio’s latest meeting with reporters returns this message: “Fumble! Looks like there was a problem with the video.”
Yes, Browns, it looks like there was.
