Molehill or Mountain?

When I'm not reviewing game tape of Browns games ((I don't review game tape.)) or asking the hard-hitting questions in the multiple player and coach press conferences, ((I don't have a press pass. I don't even live in Cleveland.)) I'm a husband, dad, and assistant tech director for a school system and have actually gone to college for youth/student ministry. So I've spent my life 1) being a kid, 2) teaching kids, 3) raising kids. ((Many would say I'm still a kid. I play video games and D&D and watch Bluey in my spare time.)) In those roles, I have come across less a philosophy and more an idea or realization: just because they are molehills to us as adults or parents or simply just older beings, it doesn't make them *not* mountains to them. I barely remember my homecoming or prom as a student, ((It could be because I'm 38 tomorrow and remembering has become harder and harder.)) but to the kids I see every day as they waltz into my tech room with broken Chromebooks, it's incredibly important. Not being able to watch another 15 minutes of iPad should not be worthy of the colossal meltdown full of kicking and screaming and oddly heavy limb throwing that occurs when I say, "time to put away iPads and eat dinner," but it is to them. And while this will likely get me kicked out of the next #BrownsTwitter get-together, but I vacillate between molehill and mountain with regards to the Deshaun Watson ShoulderGate situation ((Must we end every drama-filled incident with "-Gate"? It was the Watergate hotel. It wasn't meant to be a suffix.)) and how important it is, how much of a cover-up it is, and how much we should be getting pitch forks out for the front office, head coach, or player.I'm not some elevated being who is about to tell the "plebs" of Browns' social media and YouTube presser comment threads things shouldn't matter to them except that I am probably going to be viewed as such when I'm done with this article. But here is my best guess at the timeline for the Watson injury and what has happened since:

• Watson gets hurt in the 3rd quarter against TEN on a play that was could be considered unnecessary due to the game situation at the time of injury 
• He has a “limited practice” week leading up to BAL, all the while telling teammates he’s going to play
• The team doesn’t prep anyone during the week because of the comments from Watson
• Gameday Week 4, Watson is cleared to play but doesn’t go because he couldn’t drive the ball down the field in a manner that would be helpful
• The game plan doesn’t change, and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson finds out he’s starting at 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning with no prep
• Head coach Kevin Stefanski says post-game “he was cleared, but it was Watson that said no”
• Berry cleaned it up in a Wednesday press conference saying “It was a mutual decision between everyone”
• Bye week happens, no more news about anything
• Watson is still not able to practice; “was inside Monday” and did not practice Wed
• Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com tweets that “a doctor that has not treated Watson says the injury is usually 2-6 weeks”
• Stefanski says in Wednesday's presser that Watson remains “cleared to play but not functional”

The reality of the situation is that Watson has a bone bruise in his rotator cuff, a grouping of muscles that are empirical to being able to throw anything, let alone a football with 300lb linemen barreling down at you. Until he is ready to do that without issue, he shouldn't be playing. Yes, players are hurt all the time. Nobody goes at 100%, and everyone in the NFL has some sort of tinge or strain that they deal with throughout the season. But how quickly are we to forget the Baker Mayfield 2021 extravaganza, a season's worth of angst because he too went too hard at a play that was considered unnecessary by many and hurt his shoulder which caused him to play subpar football because he and the team were unable to come together about sitting him so he can get healthy. How many of us were vilifying the coach and player then and how many are repeating it now when both sides seem to be doing their best to not do it again? "Cleared to play" is more a legal term than a health term. It means the player can't sue the team for putting them in an unsafe situation. It means they *can* play, not *should.*The issues fans have had throughout this "debacle" are formed by how the media have presented it. Had tweets not been tweeted about how a doctor who has not treated nor seen Watson to diagnose him gave a generalized timeline that would have actually already started, would the fans have any sort of timeline about the injury? No, because it appears the team doesn't have a timeline on the injury either. It is as fluid a situation as the fluid in the bursa sac in his shoulder. In my opinion, and this is my article so it is all my opinion, the only mistake by the team was Stefanski's "It was Watson's decision, he was cleared to play and didn't". It put undue pressure on the player the way it was worded and when it was cleaned up this week by Stefanski, "he is cleared to play but isn't functional", you can easily see why it appears that he will be on the sidelines come Sunday. The reports about players being upset that Watson wasn't out there in Week 4 also do more harm than good in that they do no good to anyone. Sure, they stir up more drama for fans to get upset about, and I know: it's a reporter's job to report things and he had news that he felt needed to be reported, but you can clarify things as well. Creating drama for drama's sake so you can capitalize on clicks and listens is a zero-sum game that just makes enjoying things harder.So the real question can be asked thusly: is this situation, Watson's shoulder injury that is a legitimate injury, a mountain or a molehill? Should this divorce fans from the player or front office or coaching staff because of how it's been handled? To me, it's a molehill. This is no different than what other organizations handle as well. Baltimore felt the same with the Lamar Jackson situation just last year, where he had a knee injury and sat probably more games than he needed to because he wasn't under a contract past that season. But I also understand if you feel like it's a mountain. Players should play if they have been cleared, especially ones that might be hamstringing their organizations with giant fully guaranteed contracts. Just don't come for me if my molehill is your mountain; remember, we were all kids once, and climbing and conquering is one of the best things to keep doing even when you've grown out of it.