Mike Tomlin, now an NBC analyst, threw a serious shade bomb during Sunday night’s pregame show before the Cowboys and Giants game, dropping a classic diss directly at Cleveland. Tomlin quoted his friend JuJu Smith-Schuster, saying, straight up, “the Browns is the Browns,” after their ugly 34-10 loss to Jacksonville. Ouch. That’s gotta sting when it comes from a rival coach, even if he’s not coaching anymore.
Tomlin’s Jab and Its Ironic History
That infamous “Browns is the Browns” line? JuJu Smith-Schuster made it famous back in 2020. And talk about irony: right after he first uttered it, the Browns went out and absolutely pounded the Tomlin-led Steelers in the wild card round. You can’t make this stuff up! But despite that one memorable win, the saying has unfortunately stuck. Cleveland has only managed one winning season since 2020, and even that ended with another ugly postseason loss. So, yeah, when Tomlin pulled that out, you knew he was hitting a raw nerve. It implies a deeper, systemic issue, not just a bad day.
Monken Fires Back: “That’s One Week”
New Browns head coach Todd Monken wasn’t having it. When he was asked about Tomlin’s comments during his Monday video conference, you could tell he took some exception. He shot back with a clear message: “Well, again, everybody’s afforded their opinions. That’s what you do when you go from coaching to television.” That’s a subtle jab right back at Tomlin, implying his opinion now comes from the analyst desk, not the sideline. Monken owned the terrible performance, saying, “We have to own that. We have to own that. We didn’t play very well.” But he drew a hard line at the bigger narrative. “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.” He repeated it, emphasizing the “one week” part, clearly trying to shut down the idea that one blowout loss defines the whole team or the entire season.
Monken doubled down, finishing his thoughts on Tomlin with a firm “So, again, everybody’s afforded their opinion.” He wants that Jacksonville game to be an anomaly, an outlier that won’t define their year. The challenge now is to prove it. This isn’t just about a coach’s opinion; it’s about whether this team can truly shed that historical baggage after just one bad performance. It’s early in the season, and Monken is trying to control the narrative that this is a new team, not the same old Browns.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Pro Football Talk.
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