Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jerry Jeudy set the wrong kind of tone early against the Pittsburgh Steelers during Sunday’s 23-9 loss.
Jeudy derailed the Browns’ first offensive drive, taking a personal foul for unnecessary roughness after jostling with Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and whacking him in the face.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski didn’t mince words when discussing Jeudy’s actions.
“Jerry’s a leader for us,” Stefanski said. “I think he was a retaliation-type thing and we preach that. We teach that. We can’t do that. And those are real yards that are hard to overcome, so we have to be better. Again, it gets to the point of need to make sure you’re playing clean, then give yourself a chance. It’s hard when you make life harder on yourself.”
Jeudy admitted after the game that he hurt the team by losing his temper.
“I can’t be having no personal penalties, that’s going to hurt my team,” Jeudy said after the game. “Set my team back 15 yards, I can’t be doing that. I got to be better on that. And I will be better on that.”
Drops Continue to Haunt Browns, Jerry Jeudy
Perhaps more impactful than the penalties were the drops by the Browns’ pass catchers. Cleveland had a season-high four drops against the Steelers. Jeudy and Harold Fannin Jr. each had one, while David Njoku had two.
“I think it’s just a bunch of guys just want to make plays before they catch the ball,” Jeudy said. “You know, we haven’t been scoring enough points, so I feel like guys just are itching to catch the ball and make a play. But you just gotta catch the ball first and make the play after that, you know. So I just think it’s a bunch of guys just ready to make a play for this team to help put up points.”
The Browns’ offense has struggled as a whole and Jeudy has failed to live up to expectations after his first Pro Bowl campaign. He had just 20 catches for 240 yards through six games and has yet to find the end zone.
Browns Looking at All Options to Improve Dillon Gabriel-led Offense
With the loss to the Steelers, the Browns have failed to score more than 17 points for 11 straight games, dating back to last season. The heat is turned up the pressure on Stefanski, the Browns’ head coach and offensive play-caller. He’s willing to examine everything, including giving up the play-calling.
“There’s a lot of things we need to do better. Obviously, I’ll look at all things,” Stefanski said. “There’s a long list of things we’ve got to do better.”
Another priority for the Browns will be keeping quarterback Dillon Gabriel upright. He was sacked six times by the Steelers and dropped back more than 60 times. He finished with 221 yards.
“He’s a tough kid. We got to keep him clean. Obviously when the game turned into a two-score game you’ve got to drop back, and that’s a tough team to drop back versus,” Stefanski said. “He kept battling. It wasn’t for lack of effort by him or anybody. He made some plays. But we’ve just got to be better.”
The Browns will have a chance to get back in the win column next week against the 1-5 Miami Dolphins.
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