Todd Monken spent his Monday press conference spreading the blame for the Cleveland Browns’ 27-6 loss at the Pittsburgh Steelers, a game in which Deshaun Watson was sacked eight times. “It’s all of the above,” the head coach said when asked whether the protection problems came from coaching, blocking or the quarterback holding the ball. The Browns are 5-3 and play at the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
Cleveland kicks off at the Superdome on Sunday, November 8, at 1:00 p.m. ET, which is 8:00 p.m. in Cairo. The Saints are 2-5 and coming off their bye week.
“Eight sacks is below the line”
Monken said the way the game unfolded made it worse. “Getting behind, you end up in a drop-back game, and it’s not ideal,” he said. “Our inability to stay out of the chains. We were behind in the game, and that’s going to lend itself to added pressure on your quarterback, and we certainly all need to do it better.”
He did not leave the sacks with one person. “There’s times we could have protected better, there’s times we could have called it better, there’s times he could have gotten the ball out, and ultimately eight sacks is below the line,” Monken said. “When you get anywhere near that number, we all got to take a big bite of it and say it’s not good enough. It’s not one individual person. It’s a collective thing that we’ve got to continue to fight to get better at.”
On rookie left tackle Spencer Fano, who was disappointed in his own play after the game, Monken said it is a lot to ask in his eighth game against edge rushers like Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig. “We didn’t coach well enough and we didn’t play well enough, and it wasn’t just Spencer,” he said. He said a player who believes he should already be playing at a championship level is what you want.
The running game and the big plays
Asked about the biggest challenge in the run game, Monken pointed to the score. “We got behind, we didn’t really get into a rhythm, and we didn’t get any auxiliary yards,” he said. “If you’re behind and your longest run is 7 yards, you don’t get any auxiliary runs, to the quarterback, through other players, perimeter game.”
He also went through how Pittsburgh ran the ball against the Browns’ attack-style front. “Explosive plays, schemed-up runs against the attack-style front,” Monken said. “All you have to do is point to the third-and-extra-long 51-yard gain and the one play right before halftime where they got 23 on a trap, and you’re looking at 74 of their yards.” He said the fixes are in the front’s fits and in tackling when a run breaks: “When it does break, we’ve got to get them on the ground.”
Asked whether the way the Browns’ defense swarmed Pittsburgh’s run game in the first meeting at home showed that the difference was mindset, he said it was not. “Our guys play their rear ends off. They’re physical,” Monken said. “We played them at home. We’ve got to play better on the road. We’ve got to play from in front.”
Jared Verse, and “speak with your play”
Jared Verse, who came to Cleveland in the Myles Garrett trade, has no sacks yet and had one tackle on Sunday. Monken said it is too early to judge him. “I love the way Jared works every day,” he said. “It’s a matter of adapting to our style, which is not as similar to what he was used to doing with the Rams and the attack style. It’s unfair to compare him to Myles Garrett. Myles is in an elite category of his own. We just need Jared to be the best version of Jared.” He added that once the Browns play from ahead and force teams to throw, “you’ll start to see his sacks start to pile up.”
On the three extracurricular flags, including two for taunting, while trailing by three touchdowns, Monken was blunt. “We weren’t very poised and we didn’t keep our composure,” he said. “You are how you play, not how you talk. That was the message all week, and it’ll continue to be our message each week: speak with your play. I’ll leave it at that.”
Fannin, Boston and the young skill players
Monken said tight end Harold Fannin Jr. has had more chances over the last two weeks partly because of game script, with the Browns throwing more when they trail. “Harold is an improving player. Really good hands, run after catch, and he’s only going to continue to get better as a blocker,” he said. He said the goal is to get the ball to all of the young players, and said the young players “have the ability to make big plays.”
On Boston, whose targets are up while the connections have lagged, Monken said defenses are not doing anything special to take him away. “It’s a combination of things. At times we’re not on the same page. At times they cover it. At times we just don’t make the throw,” he said. “It’s nothing to do with Denzel.” He said Boston’s earlier heel issue is no longer a problem and called the spread of targets “a really good sign. You need multiple skill players for a defense to have to defend. We’re heading in that direction. We’re not there yet.”
Shedeur Sanders, health and the road ahead
On Shedeur Sanders’ brief snaps late in the game, Monken said it was a tough spot. “It’s unfair. We’re giving him a screen to start off and they blitzed T.J. off the boundary,” he said, but added: “I think he’s always composed. I think he did fine.” He said the backup does not get many reps during the week. On injuries, he said: “Not as of now. All those guys came back yesterday.”
Asked about taking the ball first, Monken said the Browns were trying to start fast. “We turn it over and get a great stop, and then we turn it over again. And on the road, those aren’t the recipes for being successful,” he said. “Our guys will battle, and Deshaun will battle. We just weren’t close enough to have it matter.”
He closed with a message about the record. “It’s good to have high expectations. It’s a good spot to be in, right? To be disappointed that you’re not six and two, and that you didn’t find a way to win the game on the road and be three and oh in the division. That’s really cool in my mind,” he said. “We’re going to circle the wagons, figure out what we can fix, get after it on Wednesday, flush it today, and take another step forward for us to play better football this weekend in New Orleans.”
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