Skip Bayless has been waiting for the wheels to come off in Cleveland, and they keep turning. With the Cleveland Browns 5-2 and atop the AFC North after another last-second win, the NFL analyst decided to give Deshaun Watson some grudging credit, even if he isn’t exactly sold on the quarterback’s stat line.

“I hate to keep bringing up Shedeur. I thought by now Shedeur would have a shot to be starting because Deshaun would have failed miserably. And he hasn’t,” Bayless said.

However, that credit came with a sizable asterisk, plus a Coach of the Year plug for good measure.

Skip Bayless Credits Deshaun Watson’s Fourth Quarters Over His Stat Line

Bayless then dropped his theory for how Watson has managed to hang on to the job: “Deshaun’s just riding this magic carpet because he’ll put up kind of pedestrian numbers, average QBRs, and then when it’s time, it’s time. And he goes Magic Man. And it’s not like he makes sensational plays, but he just makes plays. Sometimes arms, sometimes feet.”

The numbers he’s talking about look like this. Watson has thrown for 1,482 yards this season, 16th in the NFL, with seven touchdown passes, tied for 21st. His 64.8% completion rate is tied for 17th of 33 qualified quarterbacks, and his 90.6 passer rating ranks 19th of 33.

Not everyone is serving their praise with a side of skepticism, though.

ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith went a step further earlier this week, saying, “Deshaun Watson right now is the Comeback Player of the Year.”

Bayless, though, didn’t stop at the stat line. “He’s been really, really good in the fourth quarters, and they’re the one team that I watch where I just feel it coming through the TV. … They just got ‘We can do this, and we’re as good as anybody.’”

Bayless also decided to send some of that credit to the sideline. “Todd Monken hasn’t failed miserably because I think he might be in the lead for Coach of the Year, right? Wouldn’t he be up there?”

Monken is in his first season as Cleveland’s head coach, and the Browns have won five of their last six games.

Deshaun Watson Keeps Delivering Late for the Browns

The late-game act hasn’t been foolproof. On Oct. 11 at the New York Jets, Watson’s 29-yard touchdown pass to Denzel Boston put the Browns up 12-10 with 6:15 left, but Braelon Allen’s 22-yard touchdown run swung it back in a 17-12 loss. Watson was sacked eight times that day and finished with a 15.1 QBR.

The two Sundays since have followed a different script. In Week 6, the Browns trailed the Baltimore Ravens 10-0 at halftime and didn’t tie the game until Audric Estimé’s 2-yard touchdown run with 8:33 to play.

Cleveland got the ball back at its own 20 with 1:59 left, and Watson led a 10-play, 62-yard drive that ended with Andre Szmyt’s 37-yard field goal as time expired for a 13-10 win.

Watson’s line that afternoon was 16 of 26 for 164 yards, with five sacks taken and a 22.8 QBR.

A week later in Nashville, the Tennessee Titans jumped out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead. Cleveland rallied to lead 17-14 at halftime. After the Titans tied it with 8:41 left, Watson finished an eight-play, 71-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown run, his only rushing score of the season, to put the Browns ahead with 4:34 to go.

Tony Pollard’s touchdown tied it again with 58 seconds left. Watson answered by hitting Harold Fannin Jr. on a 36-yard catch-and-run that set up Szmyt’s 32-yard field goal at the gun for a 27-24 win. Watson threw for 308 yards in that one, with no touchdown passes, one interception, and a 56 QBR.

“He has something in him to be able to make plays when it counts,” Monken said afterward.

“Being in this league for 10 years now, I understand that a lot of games are going to come down to that, if not every game,” Watson said. “So, if we’re close enough in it and we have those opportunities, we just got to lock in.”

Entering Week 8 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Watson boasts a 70.0 PFN QB Impact Grade that’s only good enough for #24 in the league.

The Tennessee finish was Watson’s fifth fourth-quarter winning drive of the season, which works out to one for every win the Browns have.

His next chance to add to that total comes Sunday, when Cleveland visits Pittsburgh at Acrisure Stadium.