Todd Monken has explicit response to Mike Tomlin one-liner after Browns' upset

22:58 ET, 20 Sep 2026Updated 22:58 ET, 20 Sep 2026

The Cleveland Browns upset the favored Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road on Sunday to give Todd Monken his first-ever head coaching win, and he made sure to let one pundit know the team heard his critiques.

After the Browns were blown out 34-10 by the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1, NBC analyst and former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said, "My friend Juju Smith-Schuster would say, 'the Browns is gonna Browns,'" on Sunday Night Football.

Monken was fired up following Cleveland's weather-impacted 24-19 win over Tampa Bay and had a message for Tomlin. “'The Browns are gonna Browns?' f--- that," he shouted during his post-game press conference. "The guys took that to heart."

Tomlin was given two opportunities to respond to Monken's comments, the first one during NBC's pregame. "Hey, I’m glad I can still motivate even though I’m not coaching anymore," he told the panel.

The second came during halftime as part of a segment with Maria Taylor. "I love my new role," he beamed. "That's what I have to say for myself. You know why? Because I can provide bulletin board material with no personal consequence."

Tomlin spent 19 seasons coaching against the Browns in the AFC North with the Steelers, compiling an impressive 28-9-1 record against Cleveland.

Monken, the Browns' offensive coordinator in 2019, spent three years coaching against his current team, serving as the Baltimore Ravens OC from 2023 to 2025.

He was "proud" of his team for battling back from the Week 1 defeat.

“The way our guys battled, I’m just so proud of them,” Monken said postgame. “That’s a win for our players. This is a players’ game. They battled and believed … in a week-to-week league. We didn’t put our best foot forward last week, and that’s what’s going to happen. They stuck together.”

His under-fire quarterback, Deshaun Watson, was a target for a benching after a Week 1 stinker, but the $260 million man responded in a big way against the Buccaneers.

Watson completed 24 of his 30 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns in the win, outplaying the man Cleveland acquired him initially to replace in 2022 in Tampa Bay signal-caller Baker Mayfield.

“I told Monk at halftime just to trust me with the ball in my hands and let me go out there and operate,” Watson said of his coach. “Let him scheme it up, call the plays, and I’m going to trust his mindset. Let’s go execute.”