Ranking The Four Most Disappointing Aspects Of Browns Vs. Jaguars

Death, taxes, and a new Browns coach getting embarrassed in his first game. From offense to defense, the Browns laid an egg to kick off the 2026 season. The Browns were not expected to win many games this season and the Jacksonville Jaguars were one of the better teams on the schedule, but they managed to be disappointing on Sunday. The entire team was a letdown in Jacksonville, but there were areas with more concern than others.

Deshaun Watson

Even with all-time low expectations for Watson, he was still worse than most people thought possible. The Browns were moving the ball on their first drive of the game and Watson did a nice job of stepping up in the pocket to avoid a pass rusher and planting his foot for a strong throw. The only issue was that it was to the other team. The afternoon snowballed from there as Watson showed he was too scared to throw the ball.

Watson held onto the ball for too long and there were a handful of plays where it looked like he wanted to push the ball, but then dumped it off for a minimal gain. The one time he threw deep while the game was still competitive, he waited too long, resulting in his arm getting hit upon release. The offensive line seemed unorganized with false starts and delay of games as Watson was changing protections at the line of scrimmage. Watson was stretching, handing the ball off and getting turned around on play action plays. He was not the only reason that the Browns got whooped, but he was the most glaring.

Todd Monken

Monken followed suit with his predecessors by losing his first game in blowout fashion. The operation seemed like a complete mess, evidenced by the last drive of the first half starting out promising to get points before halftime, but ending up in a first and thirty due to back to back to back penalties. After the game, Monken did not seem too urgent to right the ship as he said “It’s never as bad as you think and it’s usually never as good as you think”. Although Monken is in the locker room every day and will forget more football than most people will ever know, the eye test showed that it was as bad as we think.

Jared Verse

Much was made about the stat line that Myles Garrett put up in week one and then ending up on the injured reserve prior to the Browns game. All eyes were on Jared Verse to prove that the Browns swindled the Los Angeles Rams in the trade. Verse had a total of four tackles, one for a loss. Verse applied zero quarterback hits and the Browns defense struggled to get players to the dirt as a whole. Verse still has very high upside and one game will not define his Browns’ career, but he will have to play better to lift up the entire defense.

Passing Defense

The Browns secondary looked lost in the Florida humidity as they were dissected in zone coverage by Trevor Lawerence. Mike Rutenberg’s defense came in as a mystery as he is a first-time defensive coordinator. Last season, the cornerbacks thrived in man coverage under Jim Schwartz. The Browns defense played a lot of zone coverage and the Jaguars receivers split the zone with ease and got chunk play after chunk play. The defensive backfield seemed confused on which players to cover, leading to four passing touchdowns for Lawrence. The Jaguars have a top-end passing game, but the Browns’ starting defensive backfield is also considered a strength and it was concerning that they did not look like they could compete.

The Browns were the second biggest underdogs in Week 1 this season; however, the biggest underdog, Arizona Cardinals, upset the Los Angeles Chargers in their game. Week 1 can have some wild results, especially with new coaching staffs as there is no tape on them yet. There was faint hope the Browns could compete if things went well, but nothing did and the Browns found themselves in a familiar spot after the game. The season is young and anything can happen, but after Sunday’s loss, the weaknesses were glaring.

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