Browns HC Todd Monken claps back at Mike Tomlin barb after win over Bucs: 'Browns are gonna Browns — f*** that'

Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken says that the team won't let years of struggles bog down their current season, no matter what other people say.

In a news conference after the Browns held on for a 23-19 road win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers , Monken got fired up when speaking about the team's week-to-week improvement. The coach then concluded his time with reporters with an apparent reference to something that NBC analyst Mike Tomlin said on air earlier this week.

The Browns started their season with a dismal loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars , prompting Tomlin to give a blunt assessment of the game. The former longtime Pittsburgh Steelers coach-turned-analyst evoked one of his former players while speaking about Cleveland's loss on "Football Night in America": "In the words of my friend JuJu Smith-Schuster , 'the Browns is the Browns,'" Tomlin said.

After Sunday's win, Monken said that the Week 1 struggles fueled their victory and brought the team closer.

"I thought our guys did a great job of hanging together. We had a couple scuffles Wednesday, which is good. That's awesome. 'Cause guys didn't like it, right? They're a little pissed off. You oughta be a little pissed off. (We) played awful. It wasn't the standard," Monken said.

That's Monken ended his news conference on a mic drop — with a bit of explicit language.

"Browns are gonna Browns. F*** that!" Monken said. "The guys took that to heart."

Monken's response on Sunday was much fierier than his initial reaction to Tomlin's comments: On Monday, Monken seemed frustrated at the assessment when asked about it in a news conference .

"Everybody's afforded their opinions. That's what you do when you go from coaching to television," Monken said. "I don't see it that way, 'Browns being Browns.' I don't see it that way. Every week is different, every team is different. We just didn't play well. That's one week. That's not 'Browns being Browns,' that's Browns being poorly on one week … The only way to change people's opinions is to play better. That's a fact."

With Monken pushing back on Tomlin, the former Steelers coach laughed off his former NFL opponent's words on the Indianapolis Colts-Kansas City Chiefs Sunday Night Football broadcast.

"Hey, I'm glad that I can still motivate, although I'm not coaching anymore," Tomlin joked.

Tomlin added more during halftime , saying that he has "respect" for the Browns playing with "spirit" on Sunday.

"I love my role, that's what I have to say for myself. You know why? Because I can provide bulletin board material with no personal consequence," Tomlin said with a laugh. "You gotta give them credit for what transpired this week, particularly on their defense … Cleveland's defense showed up today.

Sunday's win was broken up by a two-hour weather delay after lightning and heavy rains came through Tampa . The stoppage started right at the two-minute warning in the second half, with the Buccaneers retaining the ball when they returned. However, the Browns defense came up big to stop Tampa Bay from scoring a potentially game-winning touchdown in the final seconds.

A lot of criticism in Cleveland focused on Monken's choice to start Deshaun Watson at quarterback again despite Watson's on- and off-field issues. Watson had a solid game on Sunday, throwing for 238 yards and two touchdowns.

Cleveland was down by as many as 10 points, but scored 17 points in the second half to pull ahead. Monken noted in Sunday's news conference that he was "so proud" of the team for battling back for the win.

"We didn't put our best foot forward last week," Monken said. "We played a lot cleaner this week. Not perfect. But I'm gonna enjoy this win for our guys."