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Deshaun Watson is allowed to play and practice with the Cleveland Browns during the preseason. Once the regular season begins, he will be prohibited from participating in team activities for 11 games. NFL fans took the opportunity to greet him with showers of boos in the first preseason game he played and have continued booing him and the Browns ever since.
Guard Joel Bitonio seems to have his quarterback's back. When the boos started, he took up a "Cleveland vs. the world" stance, saying:
"It seems now more than ever, it’s Cleveland against the world. We’ll be ready for it."
He's doubled down on his comments since then. The guard told reporters:
"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, you know, '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."
He went on to say:
"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."
An interesting take for sure. Cleveland may very well be booed in every away game this season, but Bitonio says he isn't fazed by it. Although he does keep mentoning it,so maybe it is having an effect.
What away games will the Cleveland Browns play this season?
It's very probable that the crowd will want to let Cleveland know exactly how they feel about the signing of Deshaun Watson. Even if he is not active on the roster or even on the sidelines. This will obviously be an issue mainly at away games.
That means that beginning Week 1, the Browns will probably hear it from nine different fanbases. They will visit Baker Mayfield and the Carolina Panthers in Week 1. These fans might boo in support of their new quarterback and in disapproval of the Browns.
They visit the Atlanta Falcons in Week 4. In Week 7, they travel to Baltimore, a division rival who probably needs no excuse to boo them. In Week 10, they travel to Miami. The following week, they're in Buffalo, where the fans are infamous.
In Week 13, Watson's first game back, Cleveland will visit Houston and his old franchise. They are going to be a very vocal crowd. Their final three road trips are to Cincinnati, Washington and Pittsburgh. The Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers are two more division rivals who will boo relentlessly throughout.
It's most certainly going to be a noisy campaign for Cleveland. We will see how they get on when the season kicks off in a few weeks time.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Clevelandbrowns.com and H/T Sportskeeda.
