The Texans owner’s wife turned her back on him. The stands were half-empty. And his play? Shaky. What Watson’s first game back was like for those in attendance.
Deshaun Watson came out of the tunnel at NRG Stadium in Houston—in uniform for a regular-season game for the first time in 700 days—and stopped near the corner of the end zone. He looked down at the navy paint at his feet, cracked his neck, made the sign of the cross, looked up and pointed to the sky, pounded his chest twice and jogged up the Browns’ sideline.
By then the boos were raining down—before a smattering of cheers, coming from the few in the stands, evened the sound out.