BEREA, Ohio — The Browns started their season off with a bang, taking down the Cincinnati Bengals in their Week 1 matchup in Cleveland. But with the Steelers next on the schedule in a tough Monday Night Football game on the road, the hope is that they can roll over the success from Week 1 under the primetime lights.
The strange weather on Sunday impacted the offense for both teams. Not quite rain, certainly not dry; the conditions made throwing for both quarterbacks Deshaun Watson and Joe Burrow very difficult.
"It was rough. It wasn’t a hard rain, but it was an everywhere rain. It was just that mist. It was all over everything," said offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. "[Watson] missed some throws he normally wouldn’t miss because of the elements, so that’s the positive. We had some guys that were open. I feel like we’d have more production had it not been such bad conditions, but both sides had to play under them. I thought he played admirably, considering the conditions.”
Adjustments were made for the offense, and as Van Pelt pointed out Friday, there were glimpses of promise for Watson and his weapons. Starting out in nonideal conditions was something, while at times detrimental to the offense, the team viewed as a learning lesson.
"It's nothing that you wipe away because, like I said, at the end of the day, it's football, and those are the conditions that can occur at any game. We might be playing a Super Bowl in the rain. So no, you don't wipe away. It's a learning experience. You have to learn how to play in those conditions to be able to win. So no, it's just a learning experience," said wide receiver Amari Cooper.
But on the other side of the ball, the Browns defense was dominant throughout the entire game. Cleveland held the Bengals to just six total first downs. Cincinnati could only convert two of their 15 third down attempts. They held Burrow to 14-of-31 passing with just 82 yards in the air while sacking him twice.
That success, seen in the stats, was also highlighted in the energy coming from the Browns players on the field. Energy, effort, passion, swag—all intangibles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz aims to bring out of his unit.
And while fans were no doubt thrilled with the effort from the defense in Week 1, Schwartz sees it as just the start.
"I don’t know if you say you’ve seen enough of it. We have a 17-game season, and hopefully, we play more after that. So our job is to go out and do it every week and to be consistent. And I think we set a good standard for how we’re going to play," Schwartz said. "It’s just a start; let’s not get ahead of ourselves."
A never-satisfied mentality seems to be what Schwartz, and the rest of the team, are embracing following the first game.
But as the Browns gear up for the primetime lights on Monday, that "good standard" is going to be something they lean upon. Because while they're putting Week 1 in the rearview, the energy established is something they hope can roll over into Monday's rivalry matchup with the Steelers.
"It’s Pittsburgh, and this is a huge rivalry, an away game, a primetime game. We’ll keep the focus on that and not what happened last week. We want to carry over the effort and the toughness and the swag and the badassery and all those things that we talk about. But that game is over. And our challenge is to do it again this week because this is a big game for our team, for our franchise, for our city," Schwartz said.
The Browns have one more day of practice ahead of Monday's game. As for Friday's practice, there was some good news for Cleveland as safety Juan Thornhill and defensive tackles Shelby Harris and Maurice Hurst returned to practice. Thornhill was limited but is back working through a calf injury that sidelined him for Week 1. Harris and Hurst missed practice Thursday with an Achilles and hamstring injury, respectively. Both were limited on Friday.
Meanwhile, rookie defensive tackle Siaki Ika was the only player out of practice Friday. He's dealing with a foot injury and was seen walking around the locker room Friday morning in a medical boot.
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