EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — On the very first Jets drive on Sunday, the Cleveland Browns defense did its job and forced a three-and-out.
But the next time the unit ran onto the field, Cleveland was trailing 14-7, and the defense was once again stuck in a cycle of playing from behind.
“You’re just not out there,” linebacker Devin Bush said. “So what can you really say except it’s already happened. Now that’s just the situation we are in in the game now.”
Within the span of 36 seconds, the Jets went from trailing 7-0 to up 14-7 thanks to two special teams touchdowns, a key sequence in a 27-20 loss for the Browns.
The first was a 99-yard kickoff return by running back Kene Nwangwu, which came immediately after the Browns took a 7-0 lead on a David Njoku 9-yard TD grab from Dillon Gabriel.
Nwangwu out-raced kicker Andre Szmyt and cornerback Tre Avery down the right sideline for the score.
That would have been bad enough on its own.
But when the Browns’ offense came back out for the ensuing drive, they went three-and-out. Then, Jets punt returner Isaiah Williams ripped through the Browns coverage team for a 74-yard return for a TD to put the Jets up 14-7 with 5:45 left in the first quarter.
“It’s just unacceptable, really,” safety Grant Delpit said. “You know, I don’t know. I was out there for both of them plays, so it’s not like it was just wasn’t anybody on defense out there, so. Yeah.”
The first touchdown at least was likely due to some leverage issues with the Browns coverage, according to veteran safety Rayshawn Jenkins.
But the consensus remained that Cleveland would have to watch the film in order to see what exactly went wrong on both plays.
“Looks like it hit on that left sideline if we are looking at it,” Jenkins said of the kick return touchdown. “So there’s obviously gonna be some leverage issues on that side. So we just gotta go watch the film and see what was the issue.”
Too many times this year, the Browns have been left to watch film to diagnose what exactly went wrong on their special teams.
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Cleveland Browns vs. New York Jets, November 9, 2025
In Week 1, it was the two missed kicks Szmyt had against the Bengals.
In Week 2 against the Ravens, Cleveland gave up multiple long returns and had a Corey Bojorquez punt blocked due to a breakdown.
Against the Lions in Week 4, Cleveland gave up a 65-yard punt return TD to Detroit receiver Kalif Raymond, and also lost their main returner DeAndre Carter to a knee injury.
And against the Steelers in Week 6, the Browns also committed a key penalty in the third quarter when Cameron Thomas ran into the punter, extending a Pittsburgh drive that wound up being a touchdown in a 23-9 Cleveland loss.
It all amounts to game-changing plays for the worse, setting up an already-struggling offense for disaster.
“It sucks when things happen on special teams,” guard Wyatt Teller said. “It’s like a pick-six. It’s that hidden points that the defense didn’t do anything for, or the offense didn’t do anything for. It’s just a mistake.”
Coordinator Bubba Ventrone has already come under fire this season, and it’s bound to happen again with special teams being a hot topic around the league, and especially considering this week, the Las Vegas Raiders already fired their special teams coordinator Tom McMahon.
Cleveland’s mistakes proved to be extra costly against the Jets, a one-win team coming into Sunday fresh off of a trade deadline fire sale.
New York came into this week looking for any kind of momentum after trading away the team’s two best defensive players in Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams. Those plays gave them the exact push they needed and proved to be tone setters.
“It’s just how game flowed today and that’s what gave them the edge,” Bush continued. “That’s what got them going when they did, and the rest is the rest.”
For a Browns team already fighting uphill, special teams didn’t just tilt the field on Sunday — it buried them in a hole they never climbed out of.
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