Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit have cringeworthy discussion about the Deshaun Watson thing

Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit didn’t feel like getting into “The Deshaun Watson thing.”On “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video, Michaels began discussing Watson’s standing in the NFL during the third quarter of the Browns’ 27-24 win over Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers.“If you follow football, you know the story — we don’t have to go through the whole Deshaun Watson thing,” Michaels said, before breezing past the 27 sexual assault allegations the QB faced dating back to 2020.“He’s got this career in Houston, it’s great, all of a sudden he’s got these issues — We all know what they were, [the Browns] make a trade for him, looks like a terrible trade, he’s hurt, hasn’t played that much, can he win the fanbase over?” Michaels continued before channeling John Madden, noting, “Winning is the best deodorant.” Watson was sued in civil court by several massage therapists and eventually settled with a number of them, though two Texas grand juries declined to indict Watson on complaints filed by 10 of the women.The former Texans quarterback missed 28 games as a result of the allegations, spending a healthy season inactive on the Houston sideline in 2021s, and then was handed down an 11-game suspension by the league when he was finally traded to the Browns. Watson got a fully guaranteed $230 million contract from the Browns after he was traded to Cleveland, a deal he has not lived up to.Browns fans have booed him for much of his career in Cleveland as he’s yet to play in more than seven games in a single season, dealing with injuries and poor play.Herbstreit agreed with his play-by-play man’s assessment of the situation while also glossing over the details of Watson’s past.“You want the fans to get behind you, and that goes for pretty much any market,” he said.“This is an extreme case because of what you laid out with Deshaun Watson, but if you convert on third downs, you hit passes, you lead this team to victories,...