BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Those expecting Sunday’s game in Miami to be the Jacoby Brissett revenge game will be sorely disappointed to hear the Browns quarterback won’t play along.
“I don’t care. I just want to go win,” Brissett said Wednesday. “That’s what my focus is. I’m not really into the other stuff.”
Brissett spent the 2021 season with the Dolphins where he stared five of the 11 games he appeared in that saw him complete 62.7% of his passes for 1,283 yards with five touchdowns and four interceptions.
He left Miami and signed this offseason with the Browns as a free agent to be a backup in Cleveland.
“They didn’t do anything wrong to me,” Brissett said. “So I’m a little too old to hold grudges if they did, but nah, it’s not my style.”
Brissett, coming off another solid effort in a 32-13 win over the Bengals, will try to keep up with former teammate Tua Tagovailoa, who has the Dolphins rolling at 6-3 and winners of three straight.
Tagovailoa has completed 69.9% of his passes this season with 15 touchdowns and just three interceptions.
“I’m extremely happy to see the things that he’s done this year and yeah, I think he’s doing a really good job of what they’re asking him to do,” Brissett said. “And, yeah, hopefully he doesn’t do it on Sunday.”
Brissett is having a fine season himself completing 63.9% of his passes with seven TDs and five picks.
His efforts while Deshaun Watson serves his 11-game suspension have given the Browns ample opportunity to win games in the first half of the season, but their self-scouting during the bye week laid out pretty clear why they are 3-5 and with their season on the brink of being completely sunk.
“I think it showed up how much we’ve hurt ourselves and how much we have stopped us from scoring touchdowns and converting on third downs and big plays here and there,” Brissett said.
Outside the building, the Halloween win over the Bengals kept hope alive for another two weeks. Within the team’s halls and meeting rooms, it was a reminder of what they are capable of.
“I think it's just more of like understanding like ‘listen, we’ve got the whole season ahead of us. We got a big game coming up this Sunday. Let's go try to do the same thing again,’” Brissett said
Top targets – Brissett has enjoyed the reliability of Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones.
Cooper, acquired from the Cowboys, has been everything the Browns could’ve hoped for. He leads the team with 39 catches, 553yards and five touchdowns.
“He’s opened my eyes to so many different things of trust and things of that nature that the things that he does is incredible,” Brissett said. “Obviously fortunate to have him on the team and have him a part of my career. Just help him make more plays.”
Peoples-Jones has proven himself to be a reliable target. His 30 catches for 417 yards are second among receivers on the team. He’s four catches and one yard shy of tight end David Njoku in the team rankings.
“It just makes you want to give him more,” Brissett said. “Donovan is just like he's just so quiet. I mean him and Amari are kind of like the same. Like they don’t talk. And you look up and you’re like dang, like Donovan had 80 yards.
Like he almost had 100 yards. And he's making big catch after big catch after big catch and it dates back to like the first game of the season like I just always think of that big third down catch he had when the ball was behind him and just catches it with his hands, just plucks it out of the air. He’s just done that for us all year and obviously finding ways to get him more involved and get him more balls but he's, I think he's been playing really well.”
Keep grinding – Sione Takitaki has been able to take advantage of expanded playing time in the wake of season-ending injuries to Anthony Walker and Jacob Phillips.
“I've done some good things,” Takitaki said. “Definitely a lot of things to work on, too. Just gotta keep it week by week and keep improving.”
Takitaki has started four of eight games this season and is coming off one of the best games of his career that saw him rack up 13 tackles, collect a sack and force a fumble against Cincinnati.
“Tip my hat to my coaches, my peers around me who are getting me better, too, everybody's getting each other better,” Takitaki said. “My coaches have been doing a great job with me year-after-year where I've got things I've got to work on, so just got to keep it going. Still got a long, what, nine games are still left, so got to keep it going.”
Still a chance – Head coach Kevin Stefanski won’t rule out tight end David Njoku for this week as he continues to work through a high ankle sprain suffered against the Ravens October 23.
“I don’t know. I think we will see,” Stefanski said. “He is rehabbing very, very hard. He is trying like crazy. I can’t peg it right now on a Wednesday, but I wouldn’t rule him out.”
Road show – With nine games remaining, the Browns will play six on the road down the stretch.
They’ll play back-to-back weeks on the road three times starting Sunday, a result of the new 17-game schedule instituted last season with the extra game alternating between a home and away contest.
“You have to go on the road and win in some tough environments where it is loud, and that has an effect on the offense, particularly on third down so you have to be great in your operation,” Stefanski said. “We have one more road game than home game this year. You can’t control how the schedule shakes out and those type of things. You really do have to have the mentality that you will play anybody anywhere wherever it shakes out.”
Copycat league – Stefanski said the quiet Wednesday when he was asked about watching other teams that run similar systems and taking concepts or plays from them to incorporate with the Browns.
“I don’t know that there are any original ideas anymore,” Stefanski said. “We are all stealing from each other, and I am not afraid to admit it either.”
Injury report – DNP: CB Martin Emerson (illness), TE David Njoku (ankle), LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (knee), DT Perrion Winfrey (illness), DE Myles Garrett (rest), DE Jadeveon Clowney (rest), LG Joel Bitonio (rest), WR Amari Cooper (rest); LIMITED: RT Jack Conklin (foot), CB Greg Newsome (oblique), RG Wyatt Teller (calf), CB Denzel Ward (concussion)
Up next – Practice Thursday.