Browns CB Calls Out Bengals WR Chase After Win

The Cleveland Browns were talkative after their Week 1 drubbing of the Cincinnati Bengals, and they earned the right.

Cornerback Greg Newsome II took to social media almost immediately following his team’s 24-3 victory, in which the Browns defense held the Bengals’ high-powered offensive attack to just 142 total yards.

Cleveland is Cleveland

— Greg Newsome II (@gnewsii) September 10, 2023

“Cleveland is Cleveland,” Newsome posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. Newsome’s post was a direct shot at Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who finished the day with a modest five catches for 39 yards — by far the most success any Cincinnati pass-catcher had all afternoon.

Chase offered some inflammatory comments during a late-week interview ahead of the intra-Ohio matchup, which was clearly locker room material for what appears to be a tough Browns secondary.

“It’s just the hooping and hollering about the Cleveland Browns,” Chase said on Thursday, September 7. “I was about to call them the elves. But, yeah.”

A reporter followed up with a question about whether Chase is tired of hearing “all this talk” about the Bengals’ lack of success against the Browns. “I don’t really hear it. I don’t really pay attention to it,” Chase said. “Because Cleveland is Cleveland.”

Following the game, Chase spoke to reporters and owned his comments. “I’m just frustrated because I called their a** elves,” Chase said. “And we just lost to some elves.”

Cleveland’s defense was impenetrable at every level Sunday, but it all started with the play of the revamped defensive front.

The Browns finished the afternoon with 10 quarterback hits, four of which came from new defensive end Za’Darius Smith, and two sacks. One sack came from free agent acquisition Ogbo Okoronkwo and the other, predictably, from Pro Bowler Myles Garrett.