There are many layers of the Browns’ abysmal 33-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at Huntington Bank Field in the regular-season opener, and we’ll try to go through as many of them as we can as the club gets ready to play next Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
*Do the eye test of that game. It looked as ugly, as embarrassing and as one-sided as it could possibly be. The Browns were non-competitive from start to finish. What a downer for an opener. The Browns turned off thousands. They’ll come right back, but they’re really, really dismayed, disappointed and disconsolate — and they have a right to be.
*It was a rough opening week for the AFC North. The Baltimore Ravens lost yet again to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Ravens are whining and crying, spitting and moaning, about the call at the end of the game that negated a big catch. The replay review proved it was the right call. You can do that all you want, but it’s a really bad look. For when a team beats you five times in six tries, it’s not the refs who are costing you those games. It’s you. Face it, they’re better than you. And their quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, is better than yours, Lamar Jackson. Shut up and deal with it. The Cincinnati Bengals got bullied at home by the depleted New England Patriots. And the Pittsburgh Steelers, despite leaving their offense at home, slogged past a bad team in the Atlanta Falcons. All that in addition to the Nightmare on Alfred Lerner Way. The best division in the NFL? Yeah, right.
And finally, I saw a Browns player — no names, please — quit on one of the Dallas scoring plays. That was the worse look of all.
Steve King
All Browns transcripts, as well as other important resources, can be found on the team’s media portal (browns.1rmg.com).
Direct links to the full transcripts and audio from September 9, 2024 are included below:
