CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Sunday was another reminder there are no style points and the only stat that matters is the final score.
Here’s the top Brownie Bites from the first victory Monday Zooms of 2024.
Wins a win – Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski needed few words to sum up Sunday’s 18-13 win at Jacksonville. “Wasn't perfect, wasn't always pretty, but it was gritty and I thought the guys found a way there and it's certainly a learning experience,” Stefanski said.
Wins a win – Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski needed few words to sum up Sunday’s 18-13 win at Jacksonville. “Wasn't perfect, wasn't always pretty, but it was gritty and I thought the guys found a way there and it's certainly a learning experience,” Stefanski said. Cleveland was able to avert a near disaster after Jacksonville got one last chance with less than 90 seconds to play because Deshaun Watson failed to take a sack to keep the clock running, instead opting to force an incomplete pass that stopped it. “Deshaun understands how to win first and foremost, and I think he understands that he'll do whatever it takes to win,” Stefanski said. “I think he's like a lot of the great quarterbacks out there, they're prepared to do whatever it takes to find a way to win.” It’s always easier to learn from wins than losses. “Winning is hard in the National Football League, so is going on the road, playing a good team,” Stefanski said. “Obviously accomplished our goal [Sunday], but we have to do that again this week against another good team. So the really, the focus becomes making sure that you don’t beat yourself.”
Managing Myles – Myles Garrett, who played 41 snaps, plans to play through a foot injury and Sunday, despite being limited, he still recorded another strip-sack, giving him 90.5 sacks in his career. “We can obviously treat all these guys, we can treat the injury, you can rest, and then there's a lot of guys that are playing through a ton of things and Myles is no different,” Stefanski said. “He's done that in his career when I've been with him. He plays through things and he'll just continue to get better and treat the injury.” Garrett isn’t the only key defender banged up. Denzel Ward was limited to just 11 snaps Sunday. “Those are two great players for us and I know they're going to do everything possible to make sure that they're out there and available for their team,” safety Rodney McLeod said. “And we've seen over time, if they aren't, then people are going to have to step up and everybody has the trust in every single player that suits up for us.”
Step forward – Deshaun Watson also received a game ball from Stefanski. “He played well. He helped us win that game,” Stefanski said. Watson looked much more comfortable, especially in the first half, at Jacksonville that saw him finish 22 of 34 for 186 yards and he scored the only touchdown for the Browns – a 1-yard run late in the first quarter that capped a 16-play, 89-yard drive that chewed over 9 minutes off the clock. “We played clean, we played on time and I thought he spread the ball out,” Stefanski said. “Was very good in his reads really throughout the day, but kind of took what was there if number one wasn't there. Moved on to number two and played really clean.”
Bread and butter – Intentional or not, Stefanski pivoted and went back to the run game Sunday. The Browns racked up 125 yards on the ground. “We definitely have to play cleaner,” Stefanski said. “I will tell you, we were better on first and second down, which is a very, very big part of having any production from on offense. So we were better, but we feel like there's still things that we can do better, certainly when it comes to the run game.” Jerome Ford and D’Onta Foreman led the way. Ford finished with 64 yards on seven carries and Foreman, who got a bunch of carries early, 42 yards on 14 runs. “I think it opened up a lot,” Ford said. “Talked about it before the season started, about our running back room and how we all could play and how we all be a big part of what we had going on this year and y'all able to see what D’Onta was able to do.” 36 of Fords yards came on a sweep on fourth-and-1. “It was something we had practiced in practice, something that we knew was going to happen and coach told me to expect it,” Ford said. “Just wish I was a little bit faster.”
Too much laundry – The Browns were flagged 13 times for 100 yards a week after getting flagged 11 times. “Really disappointed there,” Stefanski said. “We need to be better in that area. It's hard to win. We don't need to make it harder on ourselves, and we did in a bunch of areas so we can just identify and correct. We'll keep hammering it and we got, but until we do it, we're just going to make life hard and we don't want to do that.”
There’s hope – Tight end David Njoku could return this week against the Giants after suffering an ankle sprain against Dallas. “I wouldn't rule him out yet,” Stefanski said. “It's a week-to-week injury, so got to get through the next couple of days to have a better sense.” The same applies to offensive tackles Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills Jr. “Yeah, potentially,” Stefanski said.
Injury report – WR David Bell (hip-season ending surgery), RB Pierre Strong Jr. (hamstring), DE Ogbo Okoronkwo (cleared concussion protocol)
