CLEVELAND — Suffice it to say, the Cleveland Browns defense hasn't started the 2022 season the way it would have liked to.
So much so that second-year cornerback Greg Newsome II revealed that members of the Browns defense held a players-only meeting in the days following Cleveland's stunning 31-30 loss to the New York Jets.
"Before the full defensive meeting, we had a players meeting and just talked about things, and I think the best part about it in all honestly is people are mad about stuff like that," Newsome said during head coach Kevin Stefanski’s radio show on 92.3 The Fan on Tuesday, per Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot. "There are some teams who are used to that. We’re not used to that and we see all the talent we have in the room, so things like that, it should hurt us and we should be mad about it."
Newsome's comments came two days after the Browns blew what was a 13-point lead with less than two minutes remaining vs. the Jets. After Nick Chubb's four-yard touchdown run gave Cleveland a 30-17 lead with 1:55 remaining following kicker Cade York missed extra point attempt, Jets wide receiver Corey Davis was able to sneak behind the Browns' defense for a 66-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco to cut their lead to six points.
New York proceeded to improbably recover the ensuing onside kick, with Flacco engineering a 9-play, 53-yard drive, which he capped with a game-winning 15-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson.
Blowing Sunday's game to the Jets would have been bad enough, except it came on week after similar mistakes allowed the Carolina Panthers to come from behind to take a late fourth-quarter lead in Cleveland's season opener. Fortunately for the Browns, York was able to kick a game-winning 58-yard field goal to avoid an 0-1 start, with Thursday night's matchup vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers providing Cleveland's defense with its next chance to get back on track.
"It’s disappointing for everybody, but it’s absolutely disappointing as a team knowing that we had them with our foot on their throat and we didn’t finish them," Browns All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett said earlier this week. "That’s completely on us, and we learn from this, correct it and come back stronger."