The Cleveland Browns looked bad in Week 1, and it wasn't just on Deshaun Watson. Cleveland gave up 360 total yards to the Jaguars' offense and made Trevor Lawrence look like the best quarterback in football, as he finished 18 of 23 for 245 yards and four touchdowns with zero interceptions. The offense struggled to move the ball all game, the defense was gutted, and there was no resolve in Todd Monken's first game as head coach.
After the game, former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, now an analyst for NBC, put it simply: "In the words of my friend JuJu Smith-Schuster, the Browns is the Browns," Tomlin said on NBC's "Football Night in America" before the Cowboys-Giants matchup. Coming from the coach of a former division rival who repeatedly had his way with the Browns, the quote instantly went viral. Monken responded to Tomlin's comments on Tuesday.
"Everybody's afforded their opinions. That's what you do when you go from coaching to television," Monken said. That's not Browns being Browns; that's Browns playing poorly for one week." More news: Chiefs’ Undrafted Rookie Just Outperformed Three First-Round Picks The original quote from Smith-Schuster came before a wild-card matchup in 2021 between the Steelers and Browns.
Cleveland went on to beat Pittsburgh 48-37, marking the franchise's first playoff win since 1994 and its first-ever postseason win over the Steelers. Safe to say those comments lit a fire under a Browns team led by Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, Jarvis Landry, and Myles Garrett. Maybe the same thing happens with this Cleveland team under Monken, though I wouldn't bet on it.
More news: Latest Deshaun Watson Development is Sure to Enrage Browns Fans More news: DJ Moore Fires Warning Shot After Impressive Bills Debut This is a much different roster, and all of those former players and coaches are gone. Add in the uncertainty at quarterback, the most important position in sports, and this doesn't feel like a team that's going to turn things around anytime soon. The Browns next face the Buccaneers on the road in Tampa before back-to-back home games against the Panthers and Steelers, all games they're expected to lose.
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