Three Takeaways From the Browns Brutal Week One Loss to Jacksonville

The Cleveland Browns started the season off in the most Browns way possible, getting humiliated on the road to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Todd Monken’s first game as the Browns head coach was rough and now they’ll be facing even more questions as to where the team goes from here.

Here are three takeaways from the 34-10 loss.

1. Deshaun’s first game back was a disaster

There’s no beating around it, Watson looked awful in his first game back in nearly two years.

On the first drive of the game Cleveland’s offense looked good as they marched down the field. Then came the interception. Deshaun Watson started down his receiver, who was double covered, and allowed a lurking Foyesade Oluokun to easily read the play and intercept the ball.

From there the offense just never got going. Watson missed throws, took checkdowns consistently and tried to use his legs at the worst possible times.

He got some redemption with a beautiful pass to Denzel Boston for a touchdown to end the game, but it was too little too late.

A lot needs to change and fast if the Browns are going to even be competitive this season. That starts with the quarterback. Whether it’s the play-calling, or the man at the position, things have to change.

2. The defense is missing Jim Schwartz

The Jaguars offense is good, but the Browns made them look unstoppable to start this season.

Trevor Lawrence casually threw for 245 and four touchdowns on a 78% completion rate. He wasn’t even needed in the fourth quarter. Bhayshul Tuten outmuscled everyone on the Browns defense and Parker Washington looked spectacular against the secondary.

Mike Rutenberg’s first game as the defensive coordinator was simply put…bad. It didn’t help that most of the team looked to have regressed from last season. Tyson Campbell was a liability, Carson Schwesinger lost his burst and Jared Verse made the Myles Garrett trade look worse, even if Garrett is out for a while.

Perhaps the only bright spot of the unit was Mason Graham. He collected a sack and a nice TFL while holding his ground for most of the day. Rutenberg needs to prove this game was a fluke, otherwise the decision to let Schwartz go is going to haunt Cleveland.

3. The offensive line was actually solid

A quick look of the stat sheet would show that the Browns allowed five sacks today, but that does not tell the story.

Watson had a lot of time in the pocket today, but didn’t trust it. His movement inside the pocket gave pass rushers better lanes, which killed him.

Spencer Fano and Austin Barber both looked good in their rookie debuts. Zion Johnson had a small injury, but came back into the game and played solid. Tytus Howard was probably the weakest link, earning a few penalties and giving up pressures, but overall his day was still solid.

Hopefully the film from this game will be a big learning point for the offense. Watson and the rest of the quarterbacks should be able to see how much time they really have, and get more comfortable in the pocket. That’ll free up opportunities in the run game as well.

It’s a good start, and the five guys up front may have been the strongest unit of the day.

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