The Cleveland Browns deserved criticism for the 34-10 blowout loss they suffered in Week 1 versus the Jacksonville Jaguars. But an insult new NBC analyst Mike Tomlin laid on the Browns had pundits and fans talking Sunday night and early Monday.
During his first pregame show for Sunday Night Football, while analyzing Jaguars highlights versus the Browns, Tomlin said, “In the words of my friend JuJu Smith-Schuster, the Browns is the Browns.
The noise grew so loud over the comment, Browns head coach Todd Monken received a question on the criticism during his Monday press conference.
“Everybody’s afforded their opinions. That’s what you do when you go from coaching to television,” said Monken. “And we have to own that. We have to own that. We didn’t play very well.”
While Monken took responsibility for the team’s play that led to Tomlin’s dig, he also pushed back on why the criticism from the former Steelers head coach was unfair.
“I don’t see it that way, ‘Browns being Browns.’ I don’t see it that way,” Monken added. “Every week is different. Every team is different. We just didn’t play well. That’s one week.
“That’s not Browns being Browns; that’s Browns playing poorly on one week.”
Ultimately, Monken again concluded by making a point he has throughout the early part of his Browns tenure — Cleveland will only silence its critics with success.
“Again, everybody is afforded their opinion, and the only way to change people’s opinion is to play better. That’s a fact. [If] we don’t want to be considered an also-ran, then we’ve got to play better. We’ve got to coach better; we’ve got to play better.”
What Did Mike Tomlin Said About Browns?
Tomlin coached 19 seasons for Cleveland’s biggest rival. So it wasn’t shocking the ex-Steelers head coach wasn’t particularly complimentary of the Browns after the team fell behind by more than four touchdowns in Week 1.
The line he used was a quote JuJu Smith-Schuster said before the teams played each other in the AFC wild card round in January 2021.
Tomlin could have been more objective in his analysis. But Monken was right to suggest analysts around the league are only going to shut up about the Browns being bad until they sustain success.
Monken’s comment on “not seeing it that way” was a little bit odd but also understandable. It was his first game. Essentially what he was saying was the Browns haven’t been bad very long with me as head coach.
While the comment was correct, it showcased some lack of awareness on the first-year head coach’s part. The Browns are a project organization that will take a lot of work to fix.
In the meantime, each individual analyst can decide for themselves if they are going to afford his Browns teams patience despite the fact the organization as a whole hasn’t been very good over the past nearly three decades.
Todd Monken’s Disastrous NFL Head Coaching Debut
Monken told reporters Monday he and his team have “to own” not playing well in the season opener. Well, there’s plenty “to own.”
Quarterback Deshaun Watson threw an interception on the first series of the game. The Browns also lost a fumble in the second quarter and punted on all of their other first half possessions.
Meanwhile, in their first game without edge rusher Myles Garrett and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, the Browns defense had one sack with only three quarterback hits. The Jaguars scored on six of their first seven possessions, which included four touchdowns.
The Browns offense didn’t reach the end zone until inside the final two minutes of the fourth quarter.
To avoid further ridicule, Monken’s team will have to play much better on its second Florida trip next weekend. The Browns will visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during Week 2.
Browns’ Todd Monken Reacts to Mike Tomlin Dig