Watching Sunday’s season opener vs. Cincinnati took me back to my childhood, watching the Browns in the early 2010s. The NFL looked a lot different back then. Brady, Manning and Brees were the faces of the league, Calvin Johnson was the top receiver, and the Patriots were dominating competition year in, year out. But one thing that hasn’t changed from then is the Browns’ inexplicable ability to lose in the worst ways possible.
Growing up as a Browns fan, I am well-accustomed to losing. Except for a couple good years recently (thank you Baker and Flacco), the Browns have been routinely awful year after year since I was a kid. I remember having a new coach and quarterback virtually every year, hoping that each season would be different. But each year, we looked worse than the year before, finding ways to lose that I previously didn’t think were possible.
Sunday’s game against the Bengals reminded me of one of those 2010s games.
The Browns actually looked pretty good for the first game of the season. The offense under Flacco was clicking (albeit against a historically bad Bengals defense), and our defense was holding the generational Joe Burrow in check. We not only looked good on the field, but on paper we dominated the Bengals:
Time of possession: Browns, by over 11 minutes. First downs: Browns, 22 – 11. Total yards: Browns, 327 – 141. Yards per play: Browns, 4.6 – 2.9. Third-down efficiency: Browns, 9/16 – 7/14.
On offense, Flacco threw for almost 300 yards and our rookies combined for 16 catches. On defense, we held Joe Burrow to 113 yards and Ja’Marr Chase to two receptions for 26 yards. For context, in 2024, Burrow led the NFL in passing yards, passing touchdowns, and completions, while Chase led the NFL in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns.
Despite all this, the Browns still found a way to lose.
The only way a team loses with stat differentials like those listed above is by turnovers and mistakes, and Cleveland had plenty. Flacco threw two picks, but to blame either of them on Flacco would be wrong. Both interceptions were almost identical to one another; both hit the receiver in the hands, bounced up into the air and were acrobatically intercepted by a Cincinnati defender. The second pick came on the Browns’ final drive as they attempted to win the game. Here’s videos of both:
An extremely Cleveland Browns interception goes off Jerry Jeudy’s hands and into Jordan Battle’s pic.twitter.com/sJm3Sozyo5
— Jimmy Watkins (@JimmyWatkins95) September 7, 2025
THE BENGALS COME UP WITH THE INTERCEPTION! 🤯
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/80zF9GujeE
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 7, 2025
The second reason Cleveland lost was special teams errors, a problem that every Browns fan is all too familiar with. I can recall too many games over the years lost by Cleveland’s inability to find a great kicker since the departure of Phil Dawson. In this one, it was new kicker Andre Szmyt that had a nightmarish debut. Late in the third, the Browns scored a touchdown to go up 16-14, but Szmyt missed the PAT wide right. Then, with just north of two minutes left in the game, down 17-16, he missed a critical 36-yard field goal, pushing it right again.
Two missed kicks. Two inexplicable interceptions. A 17-16 loss in a game that the Browns had every right to win. Even worse was the fact that the Steelers game was going on simultaneously, and right after Szmyt missed his 36-yarder, Chris Boswell nailed a 60-yarder to give the Steelers a win over the Jets. Please, Andrew Berry, find us a Chris Boswell.
But, enough with the negatives, let’s talk about what the Browns did right.
The Positives
Flacco looked like himself in this one. He had the air of a leader firmly in control of his team. Even when he was pressured and forced to scramble, he never looked panicked. Outside of the pocket, he always maintained focus and delivered one great ball after another. I know there were many who wanted to see Shedeur Sanders or Dillon Gabriel at the helm, but putting Flacco under center was the right call. He hasn’t lost a step; He’s still Joe Flacco.
Our offensive skill-position players looked fresh and electric. The player I was most impressed by was third-year wideout Cedric Tillman. He hauled in five receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown.
Cedric Tillman TOUCHDOWN‼️ pic.twitter.com/DV3BNHZf6b
— Rocky Top Now (@rockytopnow) September 7, 2025
On the first drive he caught a sideline pass with strong hands despite close coverage, and again in the fourth quarter he took a huge hit but hung on to the football for a big first down. Both were plays you’d expect from an elite WR1. He did have a drop that caused one of Flacco’s INT’s, but that was his only mistake of the game, and he is only going to improve throughout the season. Tillman is going to ball out this year.
#Browns Cedric Tillman comments on the dropped pass that led to the interception to end the game. pic.twitter.com/JnZI5FZH31
— Coop (@JJCoop25) September 7, 2025
Rookies Dylan Sampson (Tennessee) and Harold Fannin Jr (Bowling Green) had great performances as well. Sampson caught eight passes for 64 yards and also led the team in rushing with 29 yards. Fannin Jr. caught seven passes for 63 yards. Both looked incredibly solid for rookies in their first NFL start, and both were reliable targets for Flacco.
Veterans Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku also looked sharp. Jeudy had a crucial fourth-down drop (he led the league in drops last year with 13), but immediately redeemed himself the very next possession with back-to-back third down conversions.
Defensively, the Browns locked down the high-powered Cincinnati offense. Linebacker Carson Schwesinger delivered some big hits, stepping up in the absence of Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (out for the season), and game-wrecker Myles Garrett had back-to-back sacks in clutch time late in the game.
Looking ahead
Overall, Cleveland’s first game didn’t have the results we all wanted, but there are reasons to be hopeful looking forward. Flacco played great. Our rookies balled out. And our defense still deserves the title “Lockdown on the Lake.” Next week, we head to Baltimore to play the Ravens, a team that just put up 40 points on the Buffalo Bills. We saw Flacco throw for almost 300 yards on the lowly Bengals defense. But can he do it against a high-caliber Baltimore team?
Browns faithful, stay hopeful. There are some sparks to this football team.