Browns Star Defensive Player Takes Full Blame for Vikings Loss
The Cleveland Browns suffered a 21-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in England to fall to 1-4.
The Browns had the lead late into the fourth quarter, but with 25 seconds left, Carson Wentz found Jordan Addison for a game-winning touchdown. Following the game, star cornerback Denzel Ward took full blame for the loss as he said he took a bad route on the play.
“Yeah, we were in Cover 2 and I got to reroute the guy inside and not put it so wide for the safety,” Ward said to the media. “So I take full accountability for that. And yeah, just got to finish and execute better once it gets down to the last seconds.”
Ward finished the game, recording 3 tackles, but his misread on Addison’s route ended up being costly.
The star cornerback, meanwhile, was also on Justin Jefferson at times. The star receiver recorded 7 receptions for 128 yards in a dominant game, and Ward knows it’s hard to defend him.
“He was straight,” Ward said of Jefferson. “He caught some balls in the zones, he showed up when it counted in the last minutes of the game and we’ve just got to finish and get the ball out.”
The Browns will go on the road to play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in Week 6.
Greg Newsome II Puts Blame on Browns Defense
Although Ward took accountability for the loss, the defense was shouldering the blame.
Cornerback Greg Newsome II said the loss was on the defense for not being able to stop the Vikings on their final possession.
“Yeah, that’s on us as a defense,” Newsome II said in the locker room. “We got the lead, last drive, that’s what we asked for and we didn’t hold up our end of the bargain. So definitely sucks to play such a good game to not finish it at the end.”
Browns defensive end Alex Wright, meanwhile, says the defense needs to be better if Cleveland is going to win games.
“We did a lot of talking about losses and stuff like that, but now we just got show because we done took L after L,” Wright said. “So it’s like people talk about, we got to do that now. It’s like the talking is going, we got to actually do something. But other than that, I feel like we did have good spurts. We had bad spurts, and that’s just the flow of the game. But overall, that too many, we just got to do better. We just got to finish.”
The Browns‘ defense recorded two fumbles and two sacks in a solid effort against the Vikings.
Coach Says Team Needs to be Better
Cleveland fell just short in England and fell to 1-4 on the season.
Following the game, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said the team needed to be better in every phase of the game.
“We need to do a better job closing out and that’s an offensive thing, defensive, special teams, coaches, players, you name it,” Stefanski said. “We’ve got to come away and be at our best in those moments and we were not and that’s the frustrating part for me.”
The Browns are now on a two-game losing streak.
Seahawks are paying $100 million to learn what Vikings already knew
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold was in the middle of a monster performance with over 300 yards passing and four touchdown tosses against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday when an old habit from his tenure with the Minnesota Vikings made an unwanted appearance.
With the contest tied at 35 in the fourth quarter, Darnold and the Seahawks offense got the ball with around a minute left in the game at their own 23-yard line. Two plays into the drive, the former Vikings quarterback threw a bad interception that ultimately resulted in the Bucs escaping Seattle with a 38-35 victory.
Pressure continues to be the kryptonite for Seattle Seahawks QB Sam Darnold after leaving Minnesota Vikings
In 2024, Darnold had a marvelous season with Minnesota, but his inability to make the right play in the face of pressure made the Vikings question whether or not it was worth it to re-sign him to a lucrative contract.
Eventually, the Seahawks decided to give Darnold a multi-year deal worth $100.5 million, and on Sunday, they learned exactly why Minnesota was okay with letting the veteran quarterback walk out the door.
As good as Darnold was against Tampa Bay, he wasn't able to lead Seattle to a win. The Bucs knew he would eventually make a mistake if they were able to get a defender in his face to pressure him, and it worked.
This same strategy worked multiple times for opposing defenses in the 2024 campaign when Darold was the Vikings' starting quarterback, and even though he helped lead the franchise to 14 wins in the regular season, his struggles against pressure played a big part in Minnesota's first-round playoff exit.
Sunday's interception was an unfortunate one because Darnold really was having an impressive performance against a talented Tampa Bay team. But just as it was the case when he was with the Vikings last season, those stats don't mean anything if they don't lead to wins.
