Entering the Week 5 games against the Jets, the Cleveland Browns can approach things in one of two ways. They can take the line that they’re an underdog in this game, that they’re still the team most around the league see as hapless and bungling, the group that needs to fight the “Browns are gonna Browns” label that former coach Mike Tomlin stuck them with after Week 1. Or they can start looking at themselves as the division leader in the AFC North, a 3-1 team that rates among the NFL‘s best. Defensive edge rusher Jared Verse has a pretty strong view on what position they should take.
Stick with the underdogs. Two reasons for that: For one thing, the Jets may be 1-3, but they’ve kept things close in every game they’ve been in this season, with a point differential of just minus-8 for all four games combined. For another: 3-1 really does not mean all that much.
Jared Verse: 3-1 Teams Don’t Always Make Playoffs
Speaking with the media at practice in Berea on Thursday, Verse warned his Browns teammates not to buy into their own record after the first month of the year.
“You can see the energy change with a little bit of success, but it’s not in the way of arrogance or cockiness. It’s in a way of all right, boom, we kind of made a little name, we showed a little bit we’re capable of. But you know how many teams that’s been 3-1, don’t make the playoffs or 3-1 and end with three wins? Like, it’s not impressive to be 3-1.
“We have to finish the whole season. We still got 13 more games to handle before we can even talk about how good we were.”
Browns Heave Healthy Respect for Jets
Anyone who has paid some attention to coach Todd Monken in this short Browns season thus far knows he will have much the same message–Monken has harped on the cliche that the NFL is a week-to-week league. This week he harped on the importance of the practice in front of them, and offered a healthy respect for the Jets, too.
He is not buying their 1-3 record just like Verse said his team should not buy its 3-1 record.
Said Monken: “Like any team, it can be deceptive. And that’s why all you do, and all we can control right now, is what we do starting in 13 minutes. What do we do today, what do we do then post practice with the meetings, what do we do with our bodies tonight for this weekend? Because we’ve won three one-score games, and those have been close games. We found ways to win, and those can teeter either way.
“Certain teams are like that. They had a tough loss against the (Green Bay) Packers, that’s one of those, that’s very difficult. And they’ve played on the road a bunch. And what I see is, and I’m looking at both sides of the ball, a team that plays awfully hard.”
Browns’ Jared Verse Has Stern Warning for Teammates Before Week 5