The Browns keep getting pushed around, and Sunday’s game against the Steelers offered another ugly reminder of that problem.
It started on the opening possession, when Deshaun Watson took a helmet-to-helmet shot from Pittsburgh safety Jaquan Brisker and ended up face down on the field. Watson did return, but the hit left him with a concussion that is expected to keep him out of this week’s game against the New Orleans Saints.
Later, during an extra-point attempt, defensive end Jared Verse was dangerously driven onto his head by Steelers offensive lineman Mason McCormick. Verse was lucky to walk away without an injury from what was plainly a dirty play.
Both Brisker and McCormick were flagged. What didn’t happen, though, was almost as telling as the hits themselves: nobody from the Browns stepped in.
No lineman went after Brisker. No one seemed to make McCormick answer for it.
That kind of silence has become part of the Browns’ identity, at least in moments like these. It stands in sharp contrast to the edge Baker Mayfield showed years ago and even flashed again Sunday for the Atlanta Falcons.
While trying to block downfield on Kenny Gainwell’s fourth-quarter touchdown run, Mayfield was dumped into a mud puddle by Jessie Bates III. Mayfield got right back up, and an offensive lineman quickly jumped in to defend him.
Verse noticed the difference, and he didn’t hide how much it bothered him, according to Mary Kay Cabot at cleveland.com:
“The lack of reaction by those around me upset me a lot. Not any aspect of anybody; we’re focused on the game and everything like that.
But a similar play happened to Derek Barnett; I think the next field goal and I spazzed. I lost it because it was my brother and my teammate.
When you do something like that, it really upsets me very deeply.
“So, I could tell that from that point on, I was like, we have to do better. We have to get better on every aspect of the game of being mentally aware of, these are my brothers and we’re not fighting for each other. We’re just kind of focused on the one aspect of the game.”
Some of Verse’s teammates said they never saw the play. Linebackers Carson Schwesinger and Quincy Williams both said as much, while Barnett said he would have defended Verse if he had seen it. He also warned that the Browns can’t allow a situation like that to spiral.
No one is asking Cleveland to turn into the Oakland Raiders of the 1970s. But a little more pushback would go a long way. Winning is still the best answer, yet if the Browns are serious about changing the culture Verse has been talking about since arriving from the Los Angeles Rams, then standing up for a teammate when he gets taken down should be part of the package.
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