4 things that stood out in Browns' season opener at Jaguars
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JACKSONVILLE, FLA. ― That was bad. There's no other way to say it when talking about what just happened in Jacksonville.
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The Browns came out in coach Todd Monken's debut and were humiliated 34-10 by the Jaguars. It was 24-0 by halftime, and 31-0 one possession into third quarter.
Monken becomes the 12th consecutive Browns full-time head coach to lose his first game, dating back to Bud Carson in 1989, who won his debut 51-0 at the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Browns, meanwhile, fall to 3-24-1 in season openers since 1999, when they returned to the league as an expansion franchise.
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Here's four immediate takeaways from the Browns' season-opening loss to the Jaguars right as the clock hit zero.
Deshaun Watson played exactly how everyone expected him to play
There was no revelation from quarterback Deshaun Watson in his first regular-season game in 693 days. The quarterback who played was the same indecisive one who struggled to throw passes with any kind of arm strength. Even with back to back easy throws to start the game, Watson's third throw was an interception by Foyesade Oluokun that ended a promising drive, but that was thrown right to the Jaguars linebacker. It was all downhill from there for Watson, who couldn't throw passes his teammates couldn't either catch, or if they did, they didn't have the ability to do anything with the ball. The Browns ability to be stubborn about the decision means there's still a good chance you'll see Watson next week at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Watson's numbers of 16-of-22 for 205 yards with a touchdown, an interception and a 97.7 rating all look better because of a 46-yard touchdown to Denzel Boston with less than two minutes left.
Where was this vaunted Cleveland Browns defense?
What added to the quarterback insult was the fact Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence was pretty much as good as he's been in a little more than three quarters' worth of work. Lawrence was 18-of-23 for 245 yards with four touchdowns and a 150.6 passer rating. How was he able to be so efficient? That's because the Browns' defense was non-exisistent. The only sack of Lawrence came with the Browns already down 24-0. The Browns managed to hit the quarterback just three times. Beyond that, Lawrence was firing strikes to almost anyone he was throwing to, because the Browns struggled to keep up in coverage. It's one game, but it's not what anyone would call a promising start for defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg's group.
Sloppy operation throughout for the Browns offense
The Browns had 11 penalties for 75 yards as a team. The offense had multiple times where it was up against the play clock, or it expired on them. The execution in general was, frankly, terrible. And that was the reason why Watson was chosen as the starter. So there's a lot of cleaning up to do across the board.
Cleveland Browns' kickoff returns were effective
Give the Browns credit for this. Their kickoff return men were successful, at least when they weren't getting hurt. Dylan Sampson averaged 37 yards on two returns before suffering a game-ending knee injury on the second one. Raheim "Rocket" Sanders had a 74-yard return to set up the Andre Szmyt field goal to break up the shutout. Hey, it's at least one positive.
Chris Easterling can be reached at [email protected]. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: 4 things that stood out in Browns' season opener at Jaguars
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