Playing against the Cleveland Browns is a personal game for Houston Texans tight end Pharaoh Brown.
The 27-year-old from Cleveland actually used to be a member of the Browns from 2018-20, bouncing up and down off the team’s practice squad and active roster. Through nine career games, he had two catches for 27 yards and a touchdown.
Houston and Brown visited the Browns last season in Week 10 and had two catches for 25 yards and a score in the Texans’ 10-7 loss at FirstEnergy Stadium.
“Mentally, I think I’m in the same place [as last year],” Brown said. “I want to go out there and I want to dominate them guys.”
A chief reason why he wants to beat Cleveland is due to the fact his family are still big Browns backers, and they have been giving him a hard time this week.
“I have a bunch of family, bunch of friends that are Browns fans,” said Brown. “I’ve been hearing it. I can block out the social media, but I can’t block out the family calls. So, I hear this stuff all week, and they talk the most, those Cleveland Brown fans, they just talk the most stuff that you can ever believe. They think that they have a great team.”
It is also personal because Brown used to be a member of the team until he was cut just before Week 1 in 2020.
Said Brown: “I know all them guys, and they all know that they should be getting ready to strap it up, because I’m coming. They were in training camp with me, I’m coming hard. It ain’t no secret, it’s not bulletin board material for them. The coaches know me, everybody knows me from the owner down, and I’m excited to go back. All I’m saying is we’re coming. We’ll be there Sunday.”
Houston kicks off against Cleveland Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time.