Deshaun Watson reflects on change in Browns fans after 'TNF' win over Steelers

For the second time in less than a week, Cleveland Browns fans showered quarterback Deshaun Watson with praise and positive chants as he guided his team to a victory.

Following the Browns' thrilling 27-24 win over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers that improved Cleveland to 3-1 on Thursday night, Watson addressed how pockets of Browns fans have embraced him amid the club's three-game winning streak.

"It’s all God," Watson said, per the Browns' website. "I just let him take the wheel, and he controls everything else. Nothing changed, I think just being able to show my character, show who I am as a person. Speak the truth, continue to pray, do everything right, and live right. Try to win games and play good football. I let him control everything else. It’s a great opportunity, great moment. I want to continue to ride this wave with the fanbase, and the city and the organization. We’re 3-1, and that’s a great feeling. We’re doing it for the city."

It was back on Aug. 22 when Watson ripped Browns fans for what he called "disrespectful" conduct after he was booed during a home preseason game. Ahead of Cleveland's regular-season opener in September, he insisted that he did not want "to go to war with the fans."

Watson has since learned that winning often cures all regarding an athlete's relationship with a fan base. As ESPN's Daniel Oyefusi shared, Watson became the second Browns quarterback since the 1970 AFL–NFL merger to lead a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime of three straight contests after Andre Szmyt booted a go-ahead 56-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining in regulation.

"It was electric. It was amazing," Watson said about the atmosphere at Huntington Bank Field. "From the time we came out pregame, it was super dope to be called out, hear the crowd and feel the energy. From start to finish, the crowd was in it, the energy of the stadium, we fed off them. To get a big victory against a divisional rival on primetime, this [is] what you dream about. This is what you work for. These are the things that you put that grind in during the summertime and training camp for nights like this. It was amazing."

Ahead of the season's opening week, Browns fans took to social media, called into local sports-talk programs and flocked to the statue outside the team's stadium that honors Hall of Famer Jim Brown to protest first-year head coach Todd Monken naming Watson the club's starter over Shedeur Sanders.

Following Thursday's win, Monken also reflected on how much things have changed over the past month.

"I was in the coach's office [before the game], and I was going over the call sheet with [Watson] again," Monken said. " And I said, 'Isn't this really cool? Like, you're going to be introduced last, isn't that really freaking cool?' It was only seven weeks earlier [that Watson was booed in the preseason], and, right, it's, 'Where are we going to go from here, right? ... Where are we going from here, where are you going, where are we going?' So cool."

The Browns next play at the New York Jets on Oct. 11. 1-2 New York has a road game at the 2-1 Chicago Bears this coming Sunday.