Browns coach Todd Monken disputes Mike Tomlin’s ‘Browns being Browns’ jab after lopsided Week 1 loss

Cleveland Browns first-year head coach Todd Monken is pushing back against a pointed on-air assessment from Mike Tomlin, the longtime Pittsburgh Steelers coach now working as an analyst for NBC’s NFL coverage, a network property of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA), whose shares closed at $24.42, down 1.77% from the prior close of $24.86.

The exchange stems from Cleveland’s 34-10 defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1, a game in which quarterback Deshaun Watson struggled throughout. During the broadcast, Tomlin quipped, “In the words of my friend JuJu Smith-Schuster, the Browns is the Browns” — a remark that carried extra weight given Tomlin’s 19 seasons coaching the Steelers, during which he compiled a 28-10-1 record against Cleveland.

Asked about the comment during his Monday video press conference, Monken acknowledged the loss but rejected the framing.

“Everybody’s afforded their opinions. That’s what you do when you go from coaching to television,” Monken said, per the press conference. “We have to own that. We didn’t play very well. I don’t see it that way, Browns being Browns… Every week is different, every team is different. We just didn’t play well. That’s one week.”

Monken went further, saying the only way to alter outside perceptions is on-field improvement. “We don’t want to be considered an also-ran, then we have to play better. We have to coach better, and we have to play better,” he said.

The dust-up lands in a brutal early spotlight for Monken, hired to turn around a franchise that has struggled for consistency for much of its history. Tomlin’s line resonated with a national audience precisely because the Browns’ Week 1 showing reinforced long-standing narratives about the team, and reaction across social media and sports media outlets was quick to amplify the clip.

The episode also underscores the growing presence of former coaches in broadcast roles, where unscripted commentary about active teams and players increasingly generates headlines of its own — particularly when it involves a franchise as scrutinized as Cleveland and a figure as decorated as Tomlin.

Whether Monken’s rebuttal ages well will depend largely on how the Browns respond in the coming weeks, with the franchise seeking to move past a season-opening performance its own coach described as simply poor.

What to watch

• Cleveland’s Week 2 performance and whether Monken’s offense shows measurable improvement against its next opponent.
• Deshaun Watson’s play following his rough season debut.
• NBC and other broadcast coverage of the Browns as the season progresses.
• Comcast’s next quarterly earnings report, which will touch on its media segment and NBC’s NFL viewership.

Source: original release