Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Tytus Howard has had a rough start to the season.
Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Tytus Howard has had a rough start to the season.
Not all of the 12 penalties flagged and accepted on the Cleveland Browns on Sunday were the fault of veteran right tackle Tytus Howard, but for a stretch there, it sure felt like that was the case. Howard, acquired from the Texans this winter and given a two-year, $45 million contract as part of the rebuilding of the offensive line, was called for a whopping three false starts against the Panthers at home on Sunday, running his total penalties now to five in three games.
For an offensive line that is still getting accustomed to each other, Howard was expected to be a force for stability and consistency at right tackle. Instead, he has been making more mistakes than the two rookies who are in starting roles on the Cleveland line.
Tytus Howard Penalties ‘Not Kosher’
On Monday, coach Todd Monken was asked about Howard, and called out his mistakes–while also saying that, generally, he has played well.
Monken said: “If you’re trying to anticipate the snap count, and I told Tytus this today, it’s like a defensive lineman trying to anticipate the snap count. And if you jump offsides, you false start once, okay, right, like, all right, I get it.
“After that, it’s over. It’s not okay. It’s not kosher anymore. Okay, so that’s on him. He knows it, and we got to get it cleaned up. And the other one, I think Tytus has done a great job of battling through little nicks and bruises that have come up throughout each game. And I think as the year goes on, and we’re doing the same things over and over, I think he’s just going to continue to play at a high level.”
Todd Monken Laments ‘Browns Hurting Browns’
The Browns are the third-worst team in penalties per game after three weeks, with an average of 9.7 being called on them. Many of them have been procedural and pre-snap calls, the kind of “cadence” issues the Browns had been working on all through training camp. They still have not gotten them under control, and Monken appears to be sick of it.
As he said: “We had no excuses. We were at home. That’s embarrassing. We got to get it fixed in a hurry. It’s blank football, I mean, it is what it is. You’ve heard me say it before, and that’s coaching and playing. And again, we had not seen that. You get one thing semi-fixed with your operation and get into the line of scrimmage, and then this comes up, and it’s Browns hurting Browns, and we know it.
“And now we’re going to work like hell to get it fixed.”