David Njoku: We have no one to blame but ourselves; always intend to give commanders hell

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BEREA, Ohio Tight end David Njoku looks around the Browns’ talent-filled locker room and can’t believe they’re 6-9, knocked out of the playoffs and they play for pride Sunday against the Commanders.

It’s hard because you have this thought in the back of your head like Shit, we could have done this, or we should have done that, he said. But we have no one to blame but ourselves, and that’s the way it is. Nobody put us in this position but us, so we have to get back to work, pick up the pieces and finish strong.

Njoku, who said he let the team down when he dropped the potential play-or-win assist on the goal line in Saturday’s 17-10 loss to the Saints, is confident the Browns will put him on on the line in Washington as if the playoffs were on the line. Instead, the Browns have only one playoff campaign in the past 20 years in 2020.

It’s a big test to see who loves this game as much as they say number one, Njoku said. Number two, I know myself, I know the tight ends group, we were going to give it our all, I know the whole team will. I have no doubt that we were going to do our best and give the commanders hell.

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The Commanders, despite all their dysfunction this season and losing starting quarterback Carson Wentz for nine games to a broken right ring finger, are 7-7-1 with a 34% chance of advancing to the playoffs. That increases to around 57% if they beat the Browns and drops to 12% if they lose.

Reduced to spoilers, the Browns plan to virtually eliminate the Commanders from the playoffs on Sunday.

It’s going to show how badly we want to win, how badly do we want to win, regardless and even if we were out of the playoffs and everything, and how much we love football, you know what I mean? said Njoku. Play for your pride, play for your brothers, give it your all, even if you’re not going to advance.

At least until the loss to the Saints, the Browns still had a slim chance of making the playoffs.

Obviously it’s difficult, Njoku said. But at the same time, we still have work to do, so we intend to do it and we were going to give it our all.

Njoku admitted it was a mixture of frustration, disappointment and anger to miss the playoffs for the fifth time in six years with the Browns.

All of the above, he says. Every year you always have high hopes, high goals, and when you don’t achieve them, it’s upsetting. Especially when you’re working so hard, your teammates are working really hard and everything and not getting there is just hard. But like I said, that’s life, that’s what it is. We must continue.

Njoku is not giving the Browns a bye for Deshaun Watson to be suspended for the first 11 games of the season.

I don’t make excuses, Njoku said. We could have said anything, but in the end we didn’t get the job done, so that’s what it is. That’s what you have to go through.

Despite the underperformance, Njoku believes the Browns have the right roster to get the job done next season.

Absolutely, he said. Obviously we were going to reflect after this season, but there are a bunch of games where we could have sat down and said we could have done this, that or the third one that got us to where we are. So its football man, things happen. It’s like that. And it’s up to us to do the job and we haven’t done it, so we have to pick up the pieces first, finish it strong, pick up the pieces and get back to work. Everything revolves around work.

Like Njoku, cornerback Greg Newsome II finds it hard to believe the Browns are missing the playoffs for the second straight season.

It’s super disappointing, he said. As I said, on paper we have a very, very talented squad, but obviously we couldn’t put everything together this season for the second year in a row. So it’s definitely frustrating. I can’t tell you (why). It just didn’t work.

As for possible personnel changes, including the fate of defensive coordinator Joe Woods, Newsome said it’s above my pay grade, so I’m kind of looking at none of that. We have two games left, so I’m really focusing on that. Whatever happens, if anything else, I have no idea what will happen. So I just focus on that and allow the higher ups to make those decisions.

Newsome thinks there’s a ton of value in going 8-9, like last season, instead of worse.

First of all, these last two games, you’re going to see who the real competitors are, he said. When you’re not playing for a playoff spot and you still see guys stealing, giving it their all, those are the guys you want to be with. These are the guys you want to play with.

And obviously the kernel is defined here. We have a few core guys that you know will be here. Obviously the NFL rosters change all the time, so us core guys will be there and we obviously want to change things up for next season. So these last two games are very important.

Nick Chubb, missing the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons, thinks it’s important to finish strong.

We have two more times to go out there and play and play for each other and play for the city, he said. So that’s the brilliant thing about it, it’s not over yet.

Chubb knows there will be turnover in the roster and that some key players, including one of his best friends in Kareem Hunt, may not be back.

I’ve been in the league for a while, he said. I know that the teams will not be alike next year. I understand that. So just who we have now, everyone around the team, look, let’s end where we started. Have fun doing it.

Chubb, third in the NFL with 1,344 rushing yards, is 195 yards past Las Vegas Josh Jacobs (1,539) and 85 yards past Tennessees Derrick Henry (1,344) for his first-ever NFL rushing title. Hell plays like it always does and expects everyone to.

I know this team very well, said Chubb. I mean, they were going to keep fighting no matter what. We have a group of guys who are fighters and it’s not going to change anything for us.

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