Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett wasn’t upset after being booed by his home crowd.
He understands the Browns have to earn the support, which they did little of during Sunday’s 33-17 blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys, which was frankly worse than the final score.
Garrett spent some time in the Muni Lot before kickoff, rallying tailgating Browns fans for the home opener. The momentum didn’t last, with things going south quickly in Cleveland with the Cowboys in town.
“If we’re not playing well, they have the right to boo. If we’re kicking a**, they have the right to cheer. It’s their privilege,” Garrett told reporters after the game. “They come in and pay to see us do well and we didn’t. We have to put on better performances. We expect them to come out there and support us will full force we have to be better. That’s all on us.”
The boos started around the end of the first half. The offense was sputtering and Dallas was rolling, entering the break with a 20-3 lead. Things didn’t get much better in the second half, outside of a single, 75-yard drive where the offense looked cohesive. The Browns scored with less than a minute left, but that wasn’t anything to write home about with the game firmly out of reach.
Garrett finished the game with one sack and a couple of tackles.
Browns Coach Kevin Stefanski Calls Loss ‘Sloppy’
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski expressed a sentiment similar to Garrett’s after the loss.
“I’m really disappointed in our performance, too sloppy,” Stefanski said. “Minus-two in the turnover battle, gave up a punt return. Offensively, felt like we were behind the chains the vast majority of the game, which is not good enough and not how we need to play in order to win football games.”
The Browns have limited time to make some drastic improvements. Cleveland heads to Jacksonville next Sunday to take on the Jaguars.
“We got to look at the tape. We have to own it,” Stefanski said. “We got to figure out ways to to do better. But there’s a lot that was not good enough. And again, that’s me, that’s our coaches. We’ll get it fixed.”
Browns QB Deshaun Watson Has Rough Outing Under Pressure
The Browns entered the matchup with a couple of backup offensive tackles and it showed. Quarterback Deshaun Watson was under constant pressure, getting sacked six times and facing pressure on nearly every pass.
While the pressure certainly didn’t help, Watson also looked shaky in his first live game action since November last season. He finished 24 of 45 for 169 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Watson didn’t lack confidence when asked if the Browns could turn it around in his postgame press conference.
“I’ll always be Deshaun Watson, regardless of what anyone else says. We’ll have days like this — we all have days like this when you play this type of game. That’s part of what comes with it. It comes with the territory, especially at my position,” Watson said after the loss. “We didn’t have enough this week. We have to make sure we have enough next week to get back on the right page.”
The Browns opened as a 3-point underdog for Week 2 against the Jaguars.
