Since Deshaun Watson's suspension was announced at 11 games, the NFL's Week 13 matchup between Cleveland and Houston has been circled on calendars.
Watson came to the Texans with plenty of hype as the 12th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft and seemed to live up to the promise, putting together stellar seasons and signing a four-year, $177.5 million extension to remain in Houston. But he became disgruntled with the franchise and requested a trade.
Then, he was accused by more than 20 women of various accounts of sexual misconduct and assault. After he sat out all of 2021, Watson was traded to the Browns when a grand jury declined to indict Watson and he was eventually suspended for 11 games to begin his Cleveland career.
On Sunday, he'll make his Browns debut and it will be in Houston, the team that drafted him and believed him to be the future of the franchise. However, few people outside the Houston or Cleveland areas will be able to see the game without an out-of-market streaming service.
Why will so few markets be able to see the game?
MORE: Complete NFL Week 13 TV coverage map
Browns vs. Texans coverage map
(Yellow: Browns vs. Texans)
There are few regions of the U.S. that will be able to watch the Browns-Texans game on their local television on Sunday.
According to the Houston Chronicle's Greg Rajan, the map will cover the major areas of Houston, Corpus Christi and Lubbock in Texas and Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton and Columbus in Ohio. The map is overwhelmingly covered by Jets-Vikings, with the Broncos-Ravens and Steelers-Falcons rounding out CBS' coverage in the early window.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a coverage map smaller for an NFL game. Clearly the league wants to bury this Texans-Browns game, for obvious reasons. (Map via 506 Sports) pic.twitter.com/Iaxuiqgf8F
— Greg Rajan (@GregRajan) November 30, 2022
Rajan noted the coverage map was comparably small to the matchup of 1-7 teams a year ago between the Texans and Dolphins.
Glad I didn't make this an absolute declaration. Forgot about last year's 1-7 Texans vs. 1-7 Dolphins matchup (the only meeting of 1-7 teams since 2004). Hey, it was easy to forget!😂 pic.twitter.com/iR2iD3VWSY
— Greg Rajan (@GregRajan) December 1, 2022
CBS and the NFL did not release any specification behind the reasons for the coverage map — it is not customary to do so — but there certainly are a few reasons why the Browns-Texans' game might have less coverage than the other CBS broadcasts.
MORE: Watson's timeline of trouble
For starters, there are certainly games with more playoff implications on the line. FiveThirtyEight assigns ratings for games based on overall, quality and importance on a scale of one to 100. Browns-Texans received an 11 for quality, three for importance and seven overall. Here's how that compares to the other three games on CBS at that hour.
| Matchup | Quality | Importance | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broncos-Ravens | 43 | 11 | 27 |
| Jets-Vikings | 63 | 56 | 60 |
| Steeler-Falcons | 12 | 25 | 19 |
While the remainder of the games aren't exactly the most thrilling of the week, a clash between the 1-9-1 Texans and 4-7 Browns certainly isn't at the top of most people's watchlist this week.
Then, of course, there's the optics behind the game. Watson was accused in more than 20 civil lawsuits over accusations of sexual assault and misconduct from massage therapists, starting in March 2021 with most coming between March and April in 2021, though he would be added to another in May 2022. Watson denied all the accusations, and later settled with all but one of the civil lawsuits.
In an investigation into whether Watson violated the league's personal conduct policy, Judge Sue L. Robinson called Watson's behavior "egregious," but suspended him only for six games due to the writing of the policy. The NFL appealed the suspension and the two sides agreed to settle for an 11-game suspension and a fine of $5 million.
Watson's return to the NFL will be met with plenty of controversy across the league given the accusations against him, and both CBS and the NFL will most likely want to minimize the audience for his game, particularly with the "revenge game" narrative that often accompanies a former player returning to play their old team.
There won't be a public explanation on why the game has such a limited coverage map, but the reasons certainly feel apparent. The combination of two teams with losing records and the public perception of Watson returning in an NFL uniform both provide the league and CBS with plenty of incentive to want to limit the audience for the game.
What channel is Browns vs. Texans on today?
- TV channel (national): CBS
- TV channel (Cleveland): WOIO
- TV channel (Houston): KHOU
- Live stream: fuboTV
Browns vs. Texans will be broadcast regionally on local CBS affiliate channels.
Viewers in the United States can stream Browns vs. Texans on fuboTV, which offers a free trial.
How to watch NFL games on TV out of market
If you live outside of the designated area on the coverage map above, there are still legal ways to watch out of market NFL games. One way is to subscribe to DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket package, about which you can find more information here.
Another viewing option for the game is to subscribe to NFL Game Pass, which isn't live but still provides viewers full access to a replay of the game after the live broadcast ends.