After the Patriots racked up 45 unanswered points against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, defensive end Myles Garrett said that he didn’t think the Browns countered like they were supposed to — taking a jab at defensive coordinator Joe Woods and the rest of the coaching staff.
In four of their five losses this season, the Browns have allowed opponents to score 33 points or more.
“We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and see how we can get better, see how we can scheme better, see how we can make adjustments on the fly,” Garrett said in his postgame press conference. “We never had a chance just because we didn’t make any adjustments on the sideline or when we had time to.”
Garrett didn’t specifically address Woods or head coach Kevin Stefanski by name, but said that the overall lack of adjustments allowed the New England offense to keep stringing drives together — scoring 38 points across the final three quarters. Only one drive, excluding victory-formation kneels at the end of the game, didn’t end with points for the Patriots, while quarterback Mac Jones was 19-for-23 with 198 yards with three touchdowns.
Running back Rhamondre Stevenson, drafted in this year’s fourth round out of Oklahoma, had the first 100-yard rushing game of his NFL career. Garrett, who finished with one tackle and sack, said that New England was “max protecting” and kept trying to attack the middle of the field, something that the Cleveland defense didn’t have an answer for.
“I think we didn’t counter like we are supposed to,” Garrett said. “We didn’t stop the bleeding and they kept attacking where we were deficient.”
Woods is in his second season as defensive coordinator for the Browns. He joined Stefanski’s staff from the San Francisco 49ers ahead of the 2020 season. Cleveland, which currently sits in last place in the AFC North, hosts the winless Detroit Lions on Sunday, while New England will look for a fifth straight win on Thursday when it travels to Atlanta.