Everything Todd Monken Said About Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, Browns After Loss in HC Debut

Todd Monken's debut as the head coach for the Cleveland Browns was a major disappointment on Sunday.

The former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator lost 34-10 to the Jacksonville Jaguars after a subpar performance from quarterback Deshaun Watson. Given the Browns' tight quarterback race, Watson's showing will lead to questions about whether he'll remain the starter, but Monken wasn't ready to answer them on Sunday.

"I'd rather just talk about today, because I haven't had time to even look at the tape," Monken told reporters.

Watson, appearing in his first game since October 2024, threw for 205 yards, a touchdown and an interception on 16-of-22 passing. He added 38 rushing yards while being sacked five times.

Monken said he and the coaching staff will look at the tape and evaluate, but added that the loss isn't entirely on Watson.

"I'm sure as hell not firing me. I'm not firing our staff," Monken said. "I'm not giving up on all of our players... We'll evaluate everything. But to just say that emotionally here at the end — we just didn't play, didn't coach well enough."

Cleveland's defense certainly didn't make things easier on Watson and the offense. The Browns allowed Trevor Lawrence to throw for 245 yards and four touchdowns, sacking the quarterback just once.

"The obvious issues came in operation that we thought we cleaned up," Monken told reporters. "And obviously we didn't."

Watson has the veteran edge in the quarterback room, so he might have a longer leash than a younger quarterback. The Browns are also likely to understand that Watson is easing back into the swing of things after missing so much time.

But ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported before the season that the Browns feel comfortable with Shedeur Sanders stepping in under center if it comes to that, so Watson's job is anything but safe.

While things didn't go as Monken hoped in Week 1, he believes the Browns are more than capable of turning things around soon.

"I'm not down. I'm disappointed. You're not going to get me down," he told reporters. "I waited a long time to be a head coach in his league, it's freakin awesome... They better get us now because we got a good young group, we just didn't play well today."