The Browns lost in stunning fashion to the Jets on Sunday, with a missed extra point the difference in the 31-30 final score.
But as Cleveland gave up what seemed like an insurmountable 30-17 lead with 1:55 left in the fourth quarter, some of the team’s fans rained boos down on the field.
Star defensive end Myles Garrett heard them. And it was one more thing to be frustrated by in an afternoon full of them.
Garrett was asked if it was disappointing to see fans walking out of the stadium disappointed.
“The more disappointing thing was the booing at the end,” Garrett said, via Jake Trotter of ESPN. “It was not the most optimal ending to have. Of course, we want to win. Of course, we want to play out the game and it ends 30-16 or 30-17 whatever it was. We get a pick or a strip sack and end the game, but that’s not always how it goes. These guys are still putting their asses on the line and playing as hard as they can and they should be respected as such. It’s two games and we have plenty more to play, especially this next one coming up in front of the home crowd.
“We have a lot of time to correct what we are doing so we don’t want to see this crowd, this stadium give up on us this early. We want to see them completely behind us. 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. That’s completely on us, and we learn from this, correct it and come back stronger.”
Frankly, it would be more surprising if fans didn’t boo. The Browns looked like they were going to start a season 2-0 for the first time since 1993 — back when Bill Belichick was the team’s head coach and no one knew the franchise would be relocating to Baltimore a few years later.
Instead, the Browns are 1-1 with a matchup coming against the 1-1 Steelers on Thursday night.