Joe Schobert: Browns’ tie ‘leaves a pretty disappointing taste in our mouths’

On some level, the Cleveland Browns had to view Sunday’s 21-21 season-opening tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers as a plus.

After all, the Browns were 0-16 last year and 1-15 in 2016. Avoiding a loss out of the gate had to be viewed as progress, right?

‘We had a lot of opportunities in the game’

Not in the eyes of Browns linebacker Joe Schobert.

“It kind of leaves a pretty disappointing taste in our mouths, from our end,” Schobert told Alex Marvez and Brady Quinn on the SiriusXM Blitz. “We had a lot of opportunities in the game and a lot of chances to win, and we weren’t able to capitalize it, so we really feel like we let it get away in terms of ending in a tie.”

‘The offense is going at the defense, the defense is going right back at the offense’

Schobert does see progress, however. Between offseason acquisitions and the work done in practice and in preseason games, he believes they have taken forward steps.

“I think just overall, with the talent influx we’ve had this offseason, on being able to compete against each other on both sides of the ball from spring and through camp until now, the competition aspect in practice every day has definitely had the whole team ramped up,” Schobert said. “The offense is going at the defense, the defense is going right back at the offense and just an overall sharpening … iron sharpens iron.”