CLEVELAND — The 2025 Browns are an NFL enigma, capable of beating one of the league's best teams, the Green Bay Packers, in September, yet dropping one to the worst team in the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
"Ah, I think they are the worst team in football, maybe," said Nick Sholtis of Brooklyn. "Oh, it was sloppy; they always find ways to lose. "
The loss came in a game where Myles Garrett recorded his 20th sack of the season, which, by the way, is more than the entire defense of three NFL teams, and one in which Shedeur Sanders became only the second rookie in NFL history to log three passing and one rushing touchdown in the same game while throwing for at least 350 yards. Something NFL.com called "rarified rookie air."
"Sanders was a lot better than I thought he would be, I'll be honest with you," said Abraham Joseph of Cleveland. "He showed up."
That's why fans say they were baffled by the coaching decision not to even have him on the field for the failed two-point conversion to tie the game.
"You know we were sitting in the stands, and you could just hear everybody holding their breath when they made that call," said season ticket holder Ken Amos. "It was just one of those situations where you kind of knew where it was going to go, unfortunately, because we've been down there so many times."
It's a move and a loss that has some fans calling for the job of Kevin Stefanski, whose six seasons are the longest run for a Browns head coach since Sam Rutigliano.
"I've had enough of Stefanski. I don't know about you," said Sholtis. "And you know what else, I've had enough of people saying I look like Stefanski. I think that's the real, that's the real problem here."
Also voicing his frustration while sporting his Browns knit cap was longtime fan Charles Ramsey of "Dead Giveaway" fame.
"I'm telling you it's a sad situation," said Ramsey, who liked what he saw out of Sanders but said the rest of the team needs to step up.
"He can only do so much. If you put Dillon Gabriel in there, it would have been the same situation. Shedeur ain't on defense. He can't stop Pollard and that other dude," said Ramsey. "Give that boy some help."
He also offered some unsolicited advice for Stefanski: play more video games like Madden.
Madden teaches you how to be a coach," said Ramsey. "It's not the players; if I beat you, it's not because I had better players, it's because I out-coached you."
Still, fans like Mike McFall of Cleveland remind the team and the fans that it's not where you finish but how you finish.
"Hopefully, Shedeur can turn things around here in the next few weeks and just give us some positive energy coming up," said McFall.
And maybe show he, in fact, can be the guy opening the door for other draft possibilities, said Ken Amos.
"You know what, I hope so, I really do, because we have those two first round picks and I hope that they go somewhere with those other than trading up and going for a quarterback like we've done in the past, and it goes no where," he said.
