No one looked more foolish coming out of the Pittsburgh Steelers beatdown against their division rival than Jared Verse. He talked smack going into the second matchup of the season between the two bitter rivals, only to go silent. The edge rusher for the Cleveland Browns didn't find his groove, and it made him look foolish. The Steelers beat up Cleveland, chewed them up, and spit them out.
For those of you who remember, Verse was quoted saying the following before the weekend.
“I’m not worried about Cam, I’m not worried about their O-line,” Verse said on the Thursday leading up to the game. “We’re out there to go dominate. We’re about to make Pittsburgh ours on Sunday.”
Not only did the Browns edge rusher say these things, but he called Pittsburgh dirty for how they deploy their offensive line. One might assume he was trying to motivate his team. After the Browns lost to the Steelers 27-6, his comments clearly had the opposite effect. In fact, Verse himself failed to back up his comments by having a strong game. He clearly shrank under pressure.
Pittsburgh's locker room didn't give the defender's pre-game words much headlining material. They knew what he was trying to do, and it ended up motivating them behind closed doors. The Steelers had many things to say about Verse's comments following their beatdown of the Browns, but they played coy beforehand. These comments became nothing more than egg on Verse's face.
Pittsburgh Steelers made Jared Verse look like a fool in their brutal division takedown
Even though it was a clear blowout victory by the Steelers, it could've been worse. The Black and Gold had many chances to score more points, including a couple of extra touchdowns during the game. A couple of red zone failures early on, and a missed field goal attempt could've seen the score more inflated than the final of 27-6. Jared Verse and Cleveland's defense had no answer to stop them.
By the end of the game, Verse only totaled one tackle, and one quarterback hit. Even his one hit on Aaron Rodgers wasn't impressive because it was designed for him to get pressure for a screen play. This was nothing short of an embarrassment for the Browns and Verse. He was their biggest piece coming back in the Myles Garrett trade, and it's time for Cleveland to ask if he's any good.
"I stand by everything I say," Verse said after the game. "As a man, you have to naturally do that."
It's not only his lackluster performance against the Steelers, but Verse could be showing he's just not that good a player. He wasn't much of a factor when Cleveland beat Pittsburgh earlier in the season. In fact, the Browns defender hasn't been much of a factor at all this year.
His meager stat line of 18 tackles and zero sacks has been nothing short of an embarrassment to this point in the season.
Few seem to talk more than the Browns' edge rusher, and everyone in their organization can't help but lick their wounds after this setback. It will be interesting to see how the Browns attempt to bounce back from this. They have taken care of business against lesser opponents this year but have failed to win some impactful games. Their latest loss against the Steelers could alter their path.
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