Browns safety Jabrill Peppers may be only a rookie, but he’s already got a good handle on how things work in the NFL.

 

From watching the Browns start slowly and put themselves into big holes that they were never able to completely climb out of in each of their first three games, all losses, he knows things have to change if they want to gain some victories..

 

“I couldn’t sleep for about two days,” Peppers said of his reaction after watching a tape of last Sunday’s 31-28 loss to Indianapolis, a game in which the Colts ran off 21 unanswered points to take a 28-7 second-quarter lead. “I just feel like if I make a few of the plays that I missed, it is a different outcome in that game.

 

“At the end of the day, you have to take it on the chin, don’t run from anything and just keep getting better. I know I have to play better. I don’t need anyone to tell me that, but at the end of the day, we all have to play better.

 

“We continuously come out and shoot ourselves in the foot and try to gnaw our way back into the game. You are not going to win many ballgames like that. We have to come out from opening kickoff to closing whistle ready to go and ready to execute. It shouldn’t be when we get behind or things like that.”

 

The Browns obviously have a lot of problems or else they wouldn’t be winless, and right near the top of that list – if not at the very top of it – is starting faster. When a team opens quickly, it puts pressure on its opponent, making it play catch-up and as such get away from its game plan.

 

The Browns know that all too well, for they are the ones falling behind early and then having to scramble to recover.

 

They need a win in the worst way. To do that, they can’t struggle early. They’ve got to set the tone from the opening kickoff.

 

And what better time to finally do it than on Sunday when they play the equally bad Cincinnati Bengals (0-3) in an AFC North game at FirstEnergy Stadium, don’t you think?