Cleveland Browns insider Tony Rizzo warned this week that the team could finish with seven wins or fewer despite the surprise 5-3 start unless it fixes the problems that surfaced in Sunday’s 27-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Todd Monken’s first season as an NFL head coach has already produced as many wins as the Browns managed in all of 2025, but Sunday’s lopsided defeat at Acrisure Stadium left them third in the AFC North with a trip to the 2-5 New Orleans Saints up next.

Tony Rizzo Concerned About the Cleveland Browns’ Penalties and Run-Game Issues

“How do we lead the league in pre-snap penalties? How is that?” he asked. “We got a new coach!”

Through eight games, the Browns have been flagged for a league-high 35 pre-snap penalties, three more than the second-place Baltimore Ravens, and their 72 accepted penalties are the most in the NFL. Cleveland was penalized nine times for 85 yards on Sunday.

That’s not the only concern, though.

“Your first-quarter problems, your run-game problems, your run-game defense, you’re a mess right now. You’re a freaking mess,” he said. “The Steelers exposed you, and I’m done talking about the Steeler game.”

Each of those problems showed up in Pittsburgh. Cleveland managed just 3 yards of offense in the first quarter, with its first two possessions ending in lost fumbles.

The Browns managed 34 rushing yards on 15 carries, while the Steelers piled up 200 on 33 attempts, including 143 from Jaylen Warren on 17 carries. That was a reversal from the Browns’ 27-24 home win over Pittsburgh on Oct. 1, when they ran for 112 yards and held the Steelers to 92.

“New Orleans has the worst run defense in the league. Browns can’t run the ball,” Rizzo said. “I don’t have any confidence in that right now. Unless these things get fixed, you might not win three more games, and I mean that. You have nine games left. You might not win three.”

Monken’s own assessment after Sunday’s game, in which Pittsburgh sacked Deshaun Watson eight times, overlapped with Rizzo’s.

“We’ve got to figure out how to stop the run better… We’ve got to figure out how to not have as many sacks as we had today,” Monken said.

The Browns currently have the No. 23-ranked offensive line in the NFL, according to PFN’s OL Impact Score.

Watson completed 27 of 39 passes for 324 yards against the Steelers, but the Browns never reached the end zone. After the game, the quarterback pointed to how the Steelers defended Cleveland.

“They did a good job at sitting in their pockets and not allowing me to get out of the lanes and escape zones…” Watson said. “You have to give Pittsburgh credit of getting us off the field and not allowing us to get points on the board.”

The first of the Browns’ nine remaining games comes Nov. 8 at Caesars Superdome, where Cleveland’s run game meets the New Orleans defense Rizzo singled out.