Browns loss to Chargers an ‘eye- opener’
The Cleveland Browns have endured all types of losses over the past few seasons: painful, lopsided, comical, heartbreaking, head-scratching and last-second.
Jarvis Landry described Sunday's defeat differently: "An eye-opener," the receiver said.
After being competitive through their first five games, Cleveland was simply overmatched by the Los Angeles Chargers, who rushed for 246 yards and contained and confused rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield.
"They got after us," Landry said. "Truthfully, it really wasn't nothing to be said. I think it was evident. They came in, and they were the better team."
Injuries to linebacker Pro Bowl linebacker Joe Schobert and receiver Rod Streater complicated matters heading into Sunday's game at Tampa Bay.
Schobert suffered a hamstring injury in the third quarter, and coach Hue Jackson said he will be "down for a little while."
Cleveland can ill afford to lose Schobert, who is the defense's "quarterback," calling the formations signaled in by coordinator Gregg Williams.
Streater suffered a neck fracture while covering a punt in the first quarter and is done for the season. He was set to play more while Rashard Higgins (knee) and Derrick Willies (broken collarbone) recover from injuries. Willies had surgery on Monday and isn't expected back until late in the season.
Rookie receivers Antonio Callaway and The Green Bay Packers’ Ty Montgomery scores a first-half touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night in Green Bay, Wis. The Packers won 33-30. Damion Ratley both failed to make TD catches on well-thrown balls by Mayfield on Sunday. The Browns signed free agent Breshad Perriman, a former first-round pick by Baltimore, on Saturday.
The Cincinnati Bengals' depleted defense went with an all-out blitz, hoping to knock Pittsburgh out of field goal range. Instead, Ben Roethlisberger threw a short pass that Antonio Brown turned into a 31-yard touchdown with 10 seconds left.
Brown's catch-andrun into the end zone gave Pittsburgh a 28-21 victory on Sunday that evened up the AFC North and left Cincinnati (4-2) trying to figure out what happens next. That final play, moments after the Bengals drove for the go-ahead touchdown, will stick with them for a while.
Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said Monday that he decided to blitz in hopes of pushing the Steelers (3-2-1) out of kicker Chris Boswell's range. The Steelers trailed 21-20 and could have won with a field goal.
"We just decided to go after them," Austin said. "I want our guys to play aggressive, we're playing to win, and they had a good play called."
When Roethlisberger saw the Bengals had no safety back, he knew Brown would have a clear path to the end zone. He took the snap and quickly tossed it to Brown, who ran untouched for Pittsburgh's seventh straight win in the series.
The Bengals, meanwhile, were left trying to pick up the pieces of a defense that lost numerous players and is headed to Kansas City for a game Sunday night. The Chiefs (5-1) have one of the league's top offenses and are coming off a 43-40 loss to New England.
An injury to rookie starter Josh Allen's throwing elbow leaves
the Buffalo Bills with two less-than-ideal options: Handing the quarterback job back to turnover-prone Nathan Peterman, who has thrown four interceptions in two appearances this season, and 10 overall in seven games; or having Derek Anderson taking over a little more than a week after being lured out of semi-retirement to serve as Allen's mentor.
Coach Sean McDermott on Monday listed Allen as being "week to week," though he declined to rule him out entirely. The firstround draft pick was hurt in a 20-13 loss at Houston on Sunday.
Mike Smith is out as defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, replaced by linebackers coach Mark Duffner. The former Falcons head coach was fired with the Bucs on a threegame losing streak in which they yielded a total of 92 points in the first half in consecutive defeats to Pittsburgh, Chicago and Atlanta.