Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson is seriously injured against the Cincinnati Bengals. There are countless boos to be heard from the stands, which not only outrages his teammates.

It’s like an unwritten law: when a player gets injured – in any sport – the crowd usually falls silent. When he gets up again, or is taken off the field, there is muted applause from the stands.

However, this was not the case at all during the NFL game between the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals (14:21) on Sunday evening. Deshaun Watson, the quarterback of the home team Browns, was seriously injured. On Monday afternoon, ESPN reported that an MRI scan had revealed the feared rupture of his Achilles tendon.

This serious injury means that Watson’s season is over for 2024.

But when the quarterback lay motionless on the field, boos erupted in the stands. Initiated by their own fans. Some even shouted: “You had it coming.” For Watson’s teammate Myles Garrett, this is an outrage. After the game, the defensive end said the Browns fans “should be ashamed of themselves.”

“When I look at the fans’ reaction: whether it’s an opponent going down or one of us, we don’t boo,” Garrett said at the post-match press conference.

The star defender added: “We don’t boo players who get hurt on the field, especially not when the cart comes out. We as Browns and as fans should be ashamed of ourselves for booing someone who takes a hit.”

And further: “It could be a season-ending, career-altering injury. Man is not perfect. He doesn’t have to be. None of us expect him to be perfect. I can’t judge him for what he does on or off the field, because I can’t throw stones out of my glass house.”

He also gave everyone in the audience a piece of advice: “We need to do better on the football field, and we need to do better as fans by showing some empathy for a man who is doing the best he can and has done the best he could up to this point.”

According to him, “nobody deserves” to be treated this way. Garrett also referred to Watson as a “model citizen” and criticized the supporters for making death threats against the quarterback and “targeting his family.”

Watson signed a five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million contract with the Browns in 2022. Since then, however, he has hardly been able to convince on the pitch. Cleveland is the only franchise that has not yet managed to score more than 20 points in a game until week 7.

On top of that, there are the countless lawsuits from women alleging sexual assault, which, unsurprisingly, also cost him sympathy points among fans.

LeBron James criticizes Cleveland fans

By the way: Garrett was not alone in his criticism of Cleveland fans. Basketball superstar LeBron James also spoke out.

He wrote to “X”: “Cleveland fans! You know how much we’ve been through over the years – good, bad and indifferent. But booing someone who’s injured, not to mention your own player, is just really, really lame.”

The NBA pro also repeatedly had issues with the local fans during his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers.