On Thursday night, the Cleveland Browns defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-24, picking up their third straight win to take the lead in the AFC North.
The Browns' defense was flying around, sacking quarterback Aaron Rodgers on five occasions and keeping Pittsburgh out of the end zone enough to set up Cleveland's dramatic game-winning drive. However, for the Los Angeles Rams, the big takeaway from the game was the lack of improvement from their former edge rusher Jared Verse.
Verse recorded two tackles on the evening, and while he remains a force on the defensive line, he has yet to turn his pressures into sacks. On Thursday night, PFF credited Verse with zero pressures or sacks. He also overpursued on Roman Wilson's touchdown, biting hard on the fake
to the running back instead of staying home on the edge.
The pop pass to Roman Wilson gets the Steelers on the board!@PITvsCLE on Prime Video
— NFL (@NFL) October 2, 2026
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/h7mCRCyK6z
But that wasn't the issue. It's the overall lack of discipline within his game. Following the loss in the NFC Championship Game, Verse spoke about the need to be more mature moving forward. He lacked that maturity on Thursday, often getting into shouting matches with Steelers players and drawing one unnecessary roughness penalty. He also had moments where other flags could've (and arguably should've) been thrown.
WOW: #Steelers fans are FURIOUS that Jared Verse was not penalized after he took a swing and PUNCHED at OL Mason McCormick.
— MLFootball (@MLFootball) October 2, 2026
This comes after earlier in the game the refs called a taunting penalty on DK Metcalf for trash-talking.
HOW WAS THIS NOT FLAGGED? pic.twitter.com/ACz2vhFNIN
Additionally, Verse was jumping the snap repeatedly, getting called for encroachment when the Steelers were backed up at their own 1 and offsides on Pittsburgh's game-tying two-point conversion. It seems like nothing has changed despite being traded away. One would believe such a trade would ignite a better output than what we have witnessed so far.
Verse's lack of improvement so far highlights why the Rams felt they needed to make the move for Myles Garrett, and without that trade, there's no Aaron Donald. Unless Verse rewrites his story quickly, his conduct will cost Cleveland moving forward. And for a Los Angeles team that can ill-afford even more self-inflicted issues, the Rams-Verse saga feels like the right place, wrong time.
If Verse can get ahold of the offsides issues and control himself a bit more during verbal altercations on the field, maybe he'll start to show the same skills that earned him two Pro Bowls during his first two seasons. But for a current Rams defense that's barely punching their weight, those issues would've doomed the team's start to the season.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Jared Verse showing no improvement in one important area with Browns
