CLEVELAND — Editor's note: the video in the player above is a segment from the Wednesday, May 11, 2022, episode of The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show.
On Thursday night, the NFL released its full schedule for the 2022 regular season -- an occasion many teams celebrated by posting creative videos to social media. One post, in particular, however, received significantly more attention than the others, as the Los Angeles Chargers shared an anime-inspired video that took digs at many of their upcoming opponents, including an apparent shot at Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.
While the Chargers' depicted the Las Vegas Raiders as literal pirates and the Kansas City Chiefs as titans, the franchise opted not to share a cartoon rendering of the Browns. Rather, when it came time to unveil Cleveland as their Week 5 opponent, the screen read "Redacted on advice of our lawyers" along with Japanese text that translates to "Cleveland is boring."
The reference to legal advice appears to be a nod to Watson, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by 22 women in the Houston area. While the three-time Pro Bowl signal-caller has not been criminally charged as the result of the allegations, he is still facing civil suits and could be punished by the NFL pending the outcome of the league's investigation.
Many on social media were quick to take note of the Chargers' apparent shot at Watson, who Cleveland acquired from the Houston Texans in a blockbuster trade earlier this offseason. Many also took notice of the shade that the team threw at its Week 4 opponent, the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were represented by a cartoon jaguar wearing the same outfit that former head coach Urban Meyer happened to be wearing in his own viral video from last year.