The Cleveland Browns were already entering this season with much speculation. The biggest was changing the head coach but going back to veteran quarterback Deshaun Watson, who has been anything but a good investment. Their Week-1 34-10 wipeout against the Jacksonville Jaguars was yet another reason to question the choices. But head coach turned analyst Mike Tomlin had a more creative approach to explain the situation.

No, he didn’t give us any new Tomlinism. He just evoked one of his former players on Football Night in America: “In the words of my friend JuJu Smith-Schuster, ‘the Browns is the Browns.'” Turns out, on Sunday, the story flipped, and Browns head coach Todd Monken was in no mood to mince words, even if all it did was get Tomlin to laugh it off.

“’Browns are gonna Browns’ — f–k that, OK?” Monken said to end his postgame presser. “The guys took that to heart.”

As an NFL player, you want to have a short memory. But the story in Berea is a little different. After years of disappointing seasons, everyone has created an image of them, and it certainly doesn’t look good. Todd Monken, in his first season as the Browns’ head coach, has been tasked with changing that perception. Interestingly, his approach to Tomlin’s jab was much more diplomatic last week.

“Well, again, everybody’s afforded their opinions. That’s what you do when you go from coaching to television,” Monken said during his Monday video press conference. “We have to own that. We have to own that. We didn’t play very well. I don’t see it that way, ‘Browns being Browns’. I don’t see it that way. Every week is different, every team is different. We just didn’t play well. That’s one week. That’s not ‘Browns being Browns’, that’s Browns being poorly on one week.

“So, again, everybody’s afforded their opinion. And the only way to change people’s opinion is to play better. That’s a fact. 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.”

On Sunday, Monken and Watson clinched their first win this season, beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-19 in a game that stayed close until the end. In fact, the game that was delayed by two hours due to weather issues even saw the Browns climb from a ten-point deficit. If anything, Tomlin was more than impressed.

Mike Tomlin responds to Todd Monken as he gives flowers to the Browns

Tomlin was present in Kansas City for the Indianapolis Colts-Kansas City Chiefs Sunday Night Football broadcast. And he had two opportunities to respond to Monken’s two statements.

“Hey, I’m glad that I can still motivate, although I’m not coaching anymore,” Tomlin joked as he sat with his crew ahead of the SNF matchup.

This wasn’t the only time he was put on the spot, though. His fellow NBC colleague went back to the statement during the SNF’s halftime. Once again, Tomlin went into his response with his full chest but even gave kudos to the Browns’ defense.

“I love my role; that’s what I have to say for myself. You know why? Because I can provide bulletin board material with no personal consequence,” Tomlin said with a laugh. “You gotta give them credit for what transpired this week, particularly on their defense. Cleveland’s defense showed up today.”

After the two-hour weather delay due to lightning and heavy rains in Tampa. The break had come right at the two-minute warning in the second half with Buccaneers possessing the ball. But right there was the Browns’ defense coming through.

They stopped Tampa Bay from scoring a touchdown in the final seconds that could’ve very well been the game-winning score of the night. But they weren’t the only ones playing with a chip on their shoulders.

Deshaun Watson responds to Mike Tomlin with his game

Of all the players on the Browns roster, Watson would be the one with most to prove. After all, his 2022 fully guaranteed five-year, $23 million contract with the Browns was the team’s biggest concern over all these years when they didn’t get the returns they were expecting. Sunday’s win certainly gave Berea new hope as he made sure the win had some teeth to it too.

He turned in one of his better outings in a Browns uniform, completing 24 of 30 passes for 238 yards, two touchdowns, and zero picks, good for a 121.9 rating. But he wasn’t done just yet, as he responded to Tomlin with the fewest words possible.

“Monk said what he said,” Watson said after the win. “That’s how we all feel.”

At 1-1, it’s still way too early to read much into the standings. But it’s worth pointing out that both the Steelers and Ravens also lost on Sunday, dropping to 1-1, while the Bengals kept winning and moved to 2-0. What’s certain is that Watson will keep his QB1 spot for at least one more week and help Monken prove that Week 1 was just an anomaly for the ‘new-look’ Cleveland Browns.