BEREA — The pause hung in the air for a while. It couldn't have been more than 10 seconds.

It was, at the very least, a brief show of emotion from Deshaun Watson as he processed the idea of season-ending shoulder surgery while the Browns still have eight regular-season games remaining.

“It's very tough," the Browns quarterback said before pausing once again. "Hurt about it, but I'm going to make sure I keep my head above water and make sure I stay in touch with all the guys, and support them as much as I possibly can and attack this rehab process after surgery and make sure that I'm doing whatever I can to be beneficial for this team while not actually being on the field with them and also prepping for the next year.”

The injury Watson thought he would have to deal with coming out of Sunday's win at the Baltimore Ravens was the left ankle. Even after being diagnosed as a high-ankle sprain after an MRI, he figured he would find a way to battle through the pain to make the start this Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers the way he had during the second half of the win over the Ravens.

However, Watson had started to notice a pain in his right shoulder during the first half, but played through it. That pain led to further testing Monday and Tuesday that revealed a displaced fracture of the glenoid in his shoulder.

So, instead of starting against the Steelers in a battle of 6-3 AFC North contenders, Watson is staring at surgery "sometime next week" to help to mitigate any further structural damage.

"That was my mindset," Watson said. "I said, just coming in, look at the shoulder, shoulder be fine, dealing with whatever we’re dealing with, and then make sure we focus on the ankle enough so I can go out there and perform. But it took a different turn.”

The injury is believed to not be related to the previous rotator cuff strain that kept him essentially sidelined for more than a month. That one took place when he was hit in a Week 3 win over the Tennessee Titans. Watson then spent three of the next four games on the sideline while Dorian Thompson-Robinson — who'll start against the Steelers — or P.J. Walker took his place.

This injury occurred on a hit that Watson's can't even pinpoint exactly, nor can he point to another quarterback who's had this exact injury. However, he's confident it will not derail yet another season.

"It’s going to be a couple months, and the biggest thing is mobility and just the range of motion and then the strength and stuff will work out," Watson said. "But I'm going to be working with some great doctors and great staff that's dealt with this process before with a lot of professional baseball guys and [make] sure that I come back even better than before."

Watson said he's going to be around the facility as much as possible once the surgery is completed. The Browns will be at their own facility next week before departing for a road swing that includes a week in Los Angeles between games at Denver on Nov. 26 and against the Rams on Dec. 3.

Part of that is because the quarterback still feels the need to develop a bond with many of his teammates since his availability has been so sporadic since being traded to the Browns by the Houston Texans on March 18, 2022. He missed 11 games last season due to a suspension by the league for personal conduct policy violations connected to the more than two dozen allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual assault during massage appointments while with the Texans.

Now, this season, Watson will be limited to just six starts, and just five games in which he actually finished the game, because of two injures.

"It's going to be very important to get back around here and be around the guys," Watson said. "But I've already had a lot of guys who’ve told me wherever I'm rehabbing and training at, they're going to come out there and spend some time with me, which is pretty dope. So we're going to have that bond. The connection's going to always be there. My phone is going to always be on live for those guys, and they know they can call me or pull up on me anytime they get free."

Watson has, in 12 starts with the Browns, completed 204 of 341 (59.8%) passes for 2,217 yards with 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions. This season, in six starts, he was 105-of-171 (61.4%) passing for 1,115 yards with seven touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns QB Deshaun Watson talks about his season-ending surgery