Even after a 41–17 loss to the Ravens, Browns wide receiver Jerry Jeudy isn't ready to give Baltimore's defensive backs their flowers.
After saying that Baltimore's impressive secondary presented "no challenges" in the lead-up to the game, Jeudy and the Cleveland passing attack was held to 208 yards on 48 pass attempts—good for a paltry 4.6 yards per attempt—with two touchdowns and an interception. Jeudy himself had four catches for a team-high 51 yards, but was held out of the end zone and the Browns never really threatened to upset their AFC North rivals.
Even after the rough outing, Jeudy did not appear ready to concede that the Ravens gave he and his fellow receivers any problems, quickly shutting down a question during a Wednesday press conference about the separation they were able to get against Baltimore, or lack thereof.
"I looked like the Ravens defense backs really had you guys covered tightly. What can you guys..." one reporter began to ask, before Jeudy cut him off, asking, "You watch the film?" The reporter said he had not, but he watched the game, and followed up asking whether Baltimore did not "have you guys covered tightly." Jeudy again dismissed the line of questioning. (The exchange begins around 25:30 in the video below.)
"Watch the film and come back and ask me," Jeudy said.
The reporter followed up and asked what Cleveland's receivers can do to create more separation, and Jeudy's answer was similarly non-revealing: "Just keep running routes."
Perhaps the film reveals a more nuanced answer for how the Browns performed, but in terms of pure separation, it does not look as if Jeudy & Co. created a ton of space. Per NFL Next Gen Stats, Jeudy, Cedric Tillman and David Njoku were all in the bottom 20 in the league in average separation for Week 2, all with under two yards per target. Rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr. fared best of any of the Cleveland pass catchers with a minimum of five targets, with 3.2 yards of separation on average.
Zay Flowers, the only Ravens receiver with five or more targets in the game, averaged 2.9 yards of separation.
The competition doesn't get any easier for the Browns' offense in Week 3, as they next contend with a Packers defense that has looked like one of the NFL's elite units through two weeks.
"It's only the second week. We've got a bunch of games left," Jeudy said, when asked how Cleveland keeps things from spiraling. "We can't these last two games define out season. We just got to keep our head up, keep working, and eventually we're going to get to where we need to go at."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jerry Jeudy Tells Reporter to 'Watch the Film' After Question About Browns' Offense.
