JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Uncertainty surrounded Cleveland’s new-look offense heading into the season, and the Browns did little to erase the question marks Sunday afternoon.
What’s more troubling for the troubled franchise is the defense may have looked even worse.
Jacksonville scored on six of its first seven possessions while Cleveland turned the ball over twice on its first four, and the Jaguars rolled to a 34-10 victory in the opener at EverBank Stadium.
Todd Monken’s whole life led to this moment … and he’s still trying to prove himself
“We’ve got to coach better, I gotta scheme it better … we didn’t give ourselves a chance,” said Todd Monken, who made his NFL head coaching debut at 60 years old. “We did all the things you can’t do to win, that’s the way it is. And like I told the team, ‘There is no testimony without a test.’ This is one of the 17 games we’ve got, and we certainly didn’t play well enough. We certainly didn’t coach well enough.”
Cleveland had great kickoff returns on the first and last possessions of the first half — advancing into Jacksonville territory both times — but Deshaun Watson threw an interception to end the opening drive and the two-minute drill at the end was derailed by a pair of holding penalties, a delay of game and a false start.
Jacksonville led 24-0 at the half.
The Browns started with a bang.
Mailbag: Does starting Deshaun Watson make sense, actually help Shedeur Sanders?
Dylan Sampson returned the opening kickoff 37 yards to the Cleveland 40-yard line, then Watson connected with tight end Blake Whiteheart for 14 yards and rookie receiver KC Concepcion for 9, with running back Quinshon Judkins getting the ball twice for another 9 yards to the Jacksonville 28.
Then Watson was forced to move in the pocket and tried to complete a pass on the left side to Jerry Jeudy, but linebacker Foyesade Oluokun intercepted the ball at the 19.
“You look around the league and everyone throws interceptions, everybody makes bad plays,” Watson said. “You have to give the defense credit, he made a good play on that. I got knocked off my platform a little bit and I thought I got (the pass) over him and he reached up and grabbed it.”
Things continued to go bad for the offense, as the next two possessions were three-and-outs for a combined minus-4 yards, and the fourth drive came to a halt when Concepcion fumbled after a 5-yard catch at the Cleveland 44.
“I’ve never really fumbled the ball,” he said. “I felt like the game didn’t go how we expected it to go … we had a lot of mistakes. So we have to get back to the drawing board next week, get to work and fix everything up.”
The Jaguars offense was doing its part to magnify the Browns’ shortcomings.
Browns preview 2026: A new chapter for Jared Verse
After the opening interception, Jacksonville drove 59 yards in eight plays with Trevor Lawrence finding Parker Washington deep down the right side on third-and-7 for a 30-yard touchdown.
Lawrence hit rookie Josh Cameron for a 4-yard score — the quarterback’s 100th touchdown pass and the receiver’s first TD reception — to make it 14-0 after a quarter.
Lawrence was nearly perfect, going 18-for-23 for 245 yards, four touchdowns and a 150.6 passer rating.
With the result a foregone conclusion midway through the third quarter, the Browns finally showed life on offense.
Andre Szmyt connected on a 26-yard field goal to spoil the shutout — the drive started with a 74-yard kickoff return by Raheim Sanders — then the Browns turned it over on downs at the Jacksonville 16 and Watson finally hit rookie receiver Denzel Boston down the middle for a 46-yard touchdown with 1:52 left.
“I got my first touchdown and stuff, and that’s cool, but we always want to come out with a win,” Boston said. “I think we made some adjustments and did what we needed to do (in the second half). It was definitely good to be able to move the ball down the field and we have to build off that last half and move on to next week on a high note.
“It definitely felt great (getting in the end zone), regardless of the score. That first touchdown is always going to feel awesome. I had a lot of family here so I was able to point up to them. I’m glad they were able to see that as well.”
A pair of rookies started on the offensive line — Spencer Fano at left tackle and Austin Barber at right guard — and it ended up being a day of mixed emotions for Cleveland’s top draft pick.
“It was good to get my first action out there. Honestly, it was a dream come true,” said Fano, the No. 9 pick. “But I need to get a lot better. I don’t know if I can speak about the offense as a whole, but I feel like me, personally, I had too many little mental mistakes that I need to fix. We can’t have winning football if I’m making mistakes like those.”
The spotlight will be pointed squarely at Watson when it comes to the offense’s Week 1 performance — “Of course, everybody’s going to look at the quarterback in this situation,” he said — but he definitely had supporters in the locker room after the game.
“It’s a team game, not a one-man job … everybody has to be (held accountable),” Jeudy said. “It’s 11-on-11, not 1-on-11, so everybody has to do their part and make everybody else’s job easier.
“It was a tough one for us today, but we’ve just got to go out and execute better, man. I feel like we had a good start to the first drive and then we just couldn’t find that momentum. We’ve just gotta find a way to flip that switch and get that momentum back.”
