Nick Chubb is my favorite player on the Browns. He’s an “old school” player: a skilled running back who is adept at finding that little sliver of daylight that will allow him to bust a big play, but also willing to put his head down and work hard for the tough yards. He’s not a showboat, and you’ll never hear him complain about the blocking, the number of times he touches the ball during a game, or any of the other things that many players gripe about these days. I;’ve always thought Chubb’s blue-collar approach matched the attitude of Cleveland, the town. He was a perfect fit for the team and became the heart and soul of the Browns. It was hard to see him go down with an early season injury last year, and you wonder how the year would have gone for the Browns if that mishap hadn’t happened.
In any event, what is past is past, and in the NFL things move on very fast. Teams have to pay attention to complicated concepts like the salary cap as they assemble their rosters, and Nick Chubb’s contract would have required the Browns to take a salary cap hit if he had stayed on the team. Fortunately, they’ve reworked it in a way that reduces the cap impact, while still allowing Nick Chubb to do what Nick Chubb does. I think it’s great, because it shows that both the team and player recognize that there is value in continued partnership. It’s great for the fans, too, because it slows down that carousel of roster changes that seems to apply to every sports team these days, at the college or professional level. Having Nick Chubb stay with the Cleveland Browns is as welcome a development as Jose Ramirez’s decision to adjust his contract demands to stay with the Cleveland Guardians.
You never know how running backs will come back after a bad injury. All I can say with certainty based on past performance is that no one will work harder to get back into top shape than Nick Chubb, and when he puts on the uniform for a game he will continue to do his best every time the Browns decide to hand him the ball. That’s Nick Chubb for you, and I am thrilled he will be back.
I was sorry to see the Detroit Lions fall just short in their bid to make the Super Bowl this season, losing to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game, 34-31. The Lions are the only team to have been in the NFL for the entire Super Bowl era and not made it to the big game at least once. The Cleveland Browns haven’t made it to a Super Bowl, either, but Cleveland was without a team for several years because greedy owner Art Modell, cursed be his name, moved the original Browns franchise to Baltimore in the ’90s.
Because of this shared futility, and the fact that both teams have endured embarrassing winless seasons, there’s a certain kinship between Browns fans and Lions fans. Back in the ’50s, both teams were powerhouses and often played in the NFL championship game; in fact the Lions’ last championship, in 1957, came at the expense of the Browns. In that era, the teams were rivals–but that was long ago, and as Browns fans know all too well, in the Super Bowl era pre-Super Bowl championships and rivalries don’t really seem to count. Now Browns fans and Lions fans form a kind of mutual aid and encouragement society.
So I was rooting for the Lions yesterday, and held out hope when Detroit dominated the first half and built a 17-point lead. Unfortunately, the game turned in the second half, and with a botched interception, an untimely fumble, some dropped passes, and some failed fourth down conversions, the 49ers came roaring back. It’s the kind of cascading scenario Browns fans know all too well. You can debate whether Detroit coach Dan Campbell should have tried some of those fourth-down attempts, but he’s taken that approach all season long, and you have to be true to yourself. At least the Lions showed they belonged.
So this year’s Super Bowl will feature the Kansas City Chiefs, who’ve been the Super Bowl six times, and the San Francisco 49ers, who’ve been the game eight times. For the Browns and the Lions, hoping desperately to make just one Super Bowl, these are unimaginable numbers. Next year, we can hope to see a Lions-Browns “Get Off The Schneid” Super Bowl. It likely wouldn’t involve Taylor Swift, but we’d take it anyway.
After the Browns took their spanking in Houston and were knocked out of the playoffs, I retreated from the NFL for the rest of that weekend–thinking, correctly, that it would just be too painful to be repeatedly reminded by the commentators and pregame shows that the Browns had fallen short.
I didn’t know at the time how long my voluntary retreat from the NFL would last . . . but when this weekend rolled around, the lure of watching a few games proved to be irresistible. And as I watched the two games yesterday, I realized that checking out an NFL playoff game when you don’t have a dog in the fight is pretty entertaining. The games were close, the stakes were high, the hits were bone-jarring, the football took some funny bounces, and the speed, athleticism, and power of the players was awesome. High-level football is a sport that is made for American sensibilities, and when you don’t have a particular connection to any of the teams you can appreciate the game and the players in all their glory.
Congratulations to the winners, and condolences to the losers. After it became clear Kansas City was going to beat Buffalo, CBS showed a shot of an obviously anguished Bills fan moved to tears by the impending loss–and I knew exactly how he felt. Eventually the fans of all but one team will share that feeling. I’m past that point and can now just enjoy the spectacle as the remaining teams fight it out.
The Browns game yesterday was a tough one to watch. The defense had some big-play breakdowns in the first half, the makeshift offensive line allowed the Texans to pressure Joe Flacco, leading to two pick-sixes, and the game veered into embarrassing drubbing territory in the second half. Losing a much-anticipated playoff game 45-14 was a very sad way for an enjoyable season to end.
As Browns fans, we’re used to disappointment. This one stings a bit more, because of the hopeful development of the team and some of the improbable wins that occurred this season. At the same time, though, I can honestly say that I’m proud of the players, the coaches, and the organization for what the team accomplished in the face of devastating injuries and adversity. Browns fans no doubt will engage in second-guessing about things like whether the regulars should have played last week to keep their momentum going–second-guessing is what sports fans do–but the rational part of the brain has to recognize that the injuries on the offensive side of the ball and the turnover problems finally caught up with the team.
In saying this, I don’t want to disrespect the Texans, who had a great game plan and played a terrific ballgame. They kicked our butts, fair and square, and it’s clear that the Texans have a great young quarterback in C.J. Stroud. But I hope Texans fans will allow us Browns fans to wonder what might have happened if Nick Chubb, and our starting offensive tackles, and a mobile, healthy Deshaun Watson were on the field yesterday.
And so the season ends, with a thud rather than a bang. For Browns fans, hope must ever spring eternal.
There I was, standing nervously in front of the podium of St. Peter next to the Pearly Gates. He looked down at me with a knowing expression, twirled his key on his index finger, and then spoke in a solemn voice.
“Before we can consider whether you might gain entrance, we have a few things to discuss. There is a lot to talk about, but we’ll start with sports,” St. Peter said.
“Sports?” I asked. Surprised but thinking quickly, I added: ”I’m sorry for all of the cursing and anger issues when I played golf.”
St. Peter chuckled with a sound like rolling thunder. ”Hah! Don’t worry about that–it’s why we enticed the Scots to invent the infernal game in the first place. Golf was designed to get under people’s skin and provoke them to outbursts of temper and profanity. We figured people generally, and the Scots specifically, needed to get that out of their systems, and golf is a pretty harmless way to do it.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” I said with relief. ”But if it’s not golf, what sports issue do I need to address with you?”
“Specifically, it’s about your commitment to the sports teams for which you claimed to be a fan.” After a glance at a great, leather-bound volume, St. Peter added: ”Your record indicates you were not sufficiently attentive to avoiding jinxes that affected your teams.”
“Wait . . . what?” I stammered. ”Are you saying that jinxes are real, and that my clothing choice, the seat I was sitting in, my decisions on whether to record games, and whether I was wearing a lucky hat and consumed the right number of beers actually influenced the outcome of games? I thought that was all just silly superstition that humanity outgrew in the age of science.”
St. Peter shook his head sadly. ”Actually, the reverse is true. You know from your exposure to quantum physics and the thought experiment with Schrodinger’s cat that an event can exist in a state of superposition, where any outcome is possible, until the event is observed. You’ve heard of the observer effect and the concept of the butterfly effect, where the flapping of a butterfly’s wings can contribute to the generation of a hurricane. In short, the science of your time is just beginning to glimpse the great truth: we are all in this together, and the actions and thoughts of one person can alter the zeitgeist and the karmic forces that affect everyone and can have a definite effect on the results of athletic contests.”
“Okay, I think I can grasp that,” I said, “but sports? Isn’t being a sports fan kind of . . . trivial in the grand scheme of things?”
St. Peter tapped his key on the lectern, shifted in his seat, and looked down at me with another rueful shake of his head. ”That view is also wrong,” he said. ”In fact, sports are extremely important to the human story. As one of our residents here used to say, they allow people to vicariously experience ‘the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.’ And they also reinforce some important points that humans need to be reminded of–that the world isn’t necessarily fair, but the important thing is to remain dedicated, keep the faith, and do what you can to try to ensure a better outcome the next time. Sports fans can do that by continuing to support their chosen teams, even through the rough times–and also make sure that they take personal actions that will help to positively influence the outcome.”
St. Peter looked down at his great book again, and added: ”You’ve had some failures and some successes on that score that we need to discuss. Those two Ohio State national championship games you attended–your behavior in those instances was flawless. You did everything you needed to do, from wearing the right clothes, carrying a lucky buckeye, and imparting respectful and positive energy in favor of the Men of the Scarlet and Gray, and the outcomes reflected that.”
I grinned at those positive memories, with a welling sense of pride at my individual contribution to two great days for Buckeye Nation.
“And then there’s the Cleveland Browns, and The Drive and The Fumble,” St. Peter continued, turning to more painful topics. You already know what you did to cause The Drive, when you let one of your friends leave his seat in Cleveland Municipal Stadium when the contest was in the balance. You can’t imagine how upsetting that was to the energy forces that day. And The Fumble happened because you neglected to wear the right sweatshirt, and in watching the game you showed an unseemly overconfidence that the Browns would win that also roiled the kismet in an unfavorable way.”
I grimaced at these devastating memories, ashamed that my conduct harmed my team.
“So your record shows some good and some bad,” St. Peter noted, as he turned a page. ”Now, let’s talk about what you did on January 13, 2024, the day of the playoff game between the Cleveland Browns and the Houston Texans.”
As it has become clear that this season is an especially memorable–and perhaps even magical–one for the Cleveland Browns, I’ve found myself wanting more exposure to all things Browns than what I can get from just watching the game every week.
This isn’t a new phenomenon. Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, when the Browns had some good years, I subscribed to a weekly publication called Browns News Illustrated that provided the news, in-depth analysis, opinion columns, and feature stories that I desired. I even brought it to the office after I finished reading it, attached a paper routing slip to it, and sent it around to my fellow Browns Backers at the firm through interoffice mail so they could similarly scratch their Browns itch. That subscription ended long ago, and I have no idea what happened to BNI–but one advantage of living in the internet age is that Browns fans and fans of any sports team can find many internet resources to satisfy their craving. There are a huge number of webpages, blogs, news websites, team pages, message boards, random highlights, clips of radio broadcasts, and other sources to choose from.
As the Browns have made their run to the playoffs this year, the urge to consume ever more Browns coverage has intensified, and I’ve found myself watching internet videos, too. If you’re not a sports fan, you probably can’t understand this–but if your team has had years of struggle and disappointment, as the Browns have, you need to fully enjoy the good times while they last, because you never know when they might abruptly and sadly end.
One of my new favorites is a broadcast calledUltimate Cleveland Sports Show on YouTube. The photo above is a still shot from one of the broadcasts. The show consists of three, four, or five guys sitting in a circle on the set, talking with each other, with the show’s producer, and with guests about Cleveland sports topics–which at this time of year means talking mainly about the Browns. You’ll get some analytics, some statistics, and some insider gossip, with some off-topic chat and sophomoric humor mixed in, but mostly the show consists of guys offering their opinions and then arguing with each other about them.
This is great stuff for someone who gets home from a long day at the office and wants to relax and immerse himself in some friendly Browns chatter. It’s like going to a bar, planting yourself on a well-worn stool, and talking earnestly with your friends about your team over a beer or two–with the usual jokes and camaraderie and silliness mixed in. It’s comfort food for your fanship gene, a kind of meat loaf and mashed potatoes and gravy for the brain, to help get you through the long hours of the week until the next game is played.
So far, UCSS has helped to get me to today, with only one day left before tomorrow’s playoff game against the Houston Texans–and I imagine I’ll be watching again tonight to see what the guys have to say about the matchup. Thanks, UCSS, for getting me through the week!
This weekend, the Cleveland Browns play their last game of the NFL regular season. It is a meaningless contest.
That, in and of itself, is not unusual. Since returning to the NFL in 1999, the Browns have had many games at the end of their regular season schedule that have been meaningless–but always because the team has long since been eliminated from the playoffs. We Browns Backers have been conditioned to endure meaningless last games that are bitter exercises. If you watched them–and many of us, admittedly, had already thrown in the towel by that point and stopped inflicting pain on our sports psyches–the last Browns game of the season was a dismal event, filled with welling anger at the football fates and what-could-have-been and what-never-was rationalizing about what the Browns could have done differently.
But tomorrow’s game is meaningless in a different way. It’s meaningless because the Browns have already clinched a playoff spot, and the outcome of the contest can’t affect their seeding or where they might play. Browns fans don’t know what to do under these circumstances, with no drumbeat of failure and futility sounding. We haven’t developed the football fanship reflexes needed to deal with this situation.
Being Browns fans, of course, we worry about the anvil dropping on our heads, which in this case means an injury to some crucial player that wrecks the Browns’ postseason hopes. But beyond that, what are we supposed to do? Scout the teams that the Browns might play in the wild card round? Argue about which of the Browns stars should absolutely not see the field under any circumstances? Care about the performance of the backups who will be getting most of the playing time during the game? Wonder how the Browns picked the quarterback they added to the roster this week who will be starting the game?
Don’t get me wrong: I welcome this new scenario that the team has presented to the loyal Browns Backers across the globe. We’re up to the challenge of learning a new way to watch a meaningless end-of-the-regular season contest. But could the fans of one of the perennial playoff teams, like the Chiefs, give us a primer on what we are supposed to do this weekend?
Last night the new-look, improbability-busting Cleveland Browns clinched an NFL playoff spot. They beat the New York Jets 37-20 after putting up 34 points and some amazing offensive numbers in the first half. That victory is worth noting in any event, but the Browns did it in style: on prime-time TV, before their home crowd of long-suffering fans, in a city that was primed to explode with happiness when the last whistle blew and the game ended.
So, the Browns have made it to the dance for only the third time since they came back to the NFL in 1999. We’ll enjoy a day or two of celebration of that milestone, but for any football fan the question quickly becomes: can my team advance?
The building blocks for a playoff run are there. The Browns clearly have a tough, aggressive defense that is able to get offenses out of their comfort zones and their game plans. Last night the defense forced a turnover, relentlessly pressured the Jets QB, and even scored a touchdown during the Browns’ frenzied first half. It gave up more yards on the ground than you would like, but it’s the kind of defense that can win games in the post-season. With the addition of Joe Flacco at quarterback, the offense has been reenergized and supercharged through the air; last night Flacco threw for more than 290 yards in the first half alone, even though his top receiver was out for the game. The play-calling has been great, and last night the Browns’ running game also reemerged after a few awful, unproductive games.
But postseason wins and losses are often about more than impressive statistics. They are about mistakes and turnovers–and this Browns team is making a lot of both. Last night Flacco threw a bad pick-six, the Browns fumbled four times, losing two, and they also missed an extra point. In recent games they’ve given up another pick six, failed to recover an onside kick, allowed a kickoff return touchdown, and repeatedly lost the turnover battle. To be sure, they’ve overcome all of those blunders in beating the Jaguars, the Bears, the Texans, and the Jets, but the competition will be stiffer come playoff time, and you could easily see any one of those mistakes being fatal and causing a heart-breaking loss that brings an end to what has been a magical season.
How do you stop the turnovers and the special teams mishaps? That’s something that head coach Kevin Stefanski and the rest of the Browns coaching staff is going to have to figure out. Should they rest the offensive and defensive starters in their last game against Cincinnati, now that the playoff berth is assured–or should they have the first-team offense play, if only to work on keeping control of the pigskin? That’s a tough call, obviously, and one that would be endlessly second-guessed if number 15 or one of the other key players suffered an injury.
But if the Browns hope to advance against tougher competition, they can’t continue to dance on the razor’s edge and repeatedly put the ball on the ground. They have got to figure out how to play a clean game. If they can pull that off, they could make some real noise.
Browns fans everywhere got an early Christmas present yesterday as the Cleveland Browns beat the Houston Texans on the road, 36-22.
The fact that the Browns won wasn’t hugely surprising–not this year, at least, with perhaps the best defensive unit I can remember in my 60-plus years of Browns fandom. What was surprising, though, was how the Browns did it on offense, with a quick strike/bomb threat attack that eviscerated the Texans’ defense time and again. The new-look offense allowed Amari Cooper to set a franchise record with 265 receiving yards and two touchdowns, while ageless Joe Flacco threw for a total of 368 yards and also notched a touchdown pass to David Njoku. With the smothering Browns defense throttling the Houston offense, the Browns went up 36-7 in the fourth quarter–causing the broadcast here in Arizona to cut away, as the announcers said, to a “more competitive” game. The Texans then got two late touchdowns, and an onside kick recovery, to make the final score closer.
It’s astonishing what a change in quarterbacks can do. Flacco has transformed the Browns from a dink-and-dump team that couldn’t run the ball into an air attack that can hurt you with short, intermediate, and deep passes. The Browns still can’t run effectively–yesterday they put up only 54 yards on 30 carries, for a puny 1.8 yards per carry average, although they did rush for two touchdowns–but you wonder if the threat through the air will cause opposing defenses to adjust in a way that will make the ground game easier. And kudos to the offensive line and the play-calling, as Flacco was not sacked once in a game where he threw 42 times. Kevin Stefanski continues to show great flexibility and creativity in changing his approach to match the powerful arm and amazing accuracy of the guy behind the center.
The Browns now have 10 wins and are on the verge of clinching a playoff spot. For Browns Backers, those are words and concepts to be cherished. The only Achilles heel from yesterday’s game was the special teams play. But for the Texans returning a kickoff for a touchdown and recovering an onside kick, the final score would have been far more lopsided. That’s something that will need to be cleaned up as the Browns move forward.
Merry Christmas to the Browns and my fellow Browns fans, who are enjoying an amazing and exhilarating run this holiday season, Let’s hope the Browns continue to jingle all the way to the playoffs–and beyond.
With every passing week, the Cleveland Browns seem to prove that the inexorable laws of probability either don’t exist, or don’t apply to them. It’s not clear what is more improbable at this point: the fact that more and more Browns players become injured and are lost for the season, or the fact that the team somehow keeps winning notwithstanding having been absolutely decimated by virtually every kind of injury football players can get.
Yesterday’s 20-17 win against the Chicago Bears took the improbability factor to new heights. After a week in which a slew of offensive and defensive players were ruled out, the Browns started an offensive line that featured only two starters and a number of third-stringers trying to protect a 38-year-old quarterback who was totally out of football at the start of this season. Then, one of those two remaining starters, guard Joel Bitonio, promptly left the game with a back injury. Not surprisingly, the Browns couldn’t run the ball at all, and ageless wonder Joe Flacco was under constant pressure and threw three interceptions. Cleveland trailed going into the fourth quarter, 17-7, and it sure looked like the Browns were going to suffer a devastating home loss–but somehow they pulled it out. And the improbability factor was further tested when a Bears receiver dropped a Hail Mary pass that would have won the game and broken the hearts of Browns Backers everywhere.
Browns fans have to wonder how long this can continue. There’s a reason starters are starters and third-stringers are third-stringers, and yesterday’s offensive line performance showed that. Fortunately for the Browns, the defense is tough, and the team, the coaching staff, and the front office clearly have decided that they can live with a “next man up” approach and constantly scrutiny of the waiver wire to try to find new bodies to plug the injury gaps. At some point, you figure the probabilities will work against the Browns–but for now we’ll just enjoy the ride.
An old saying asserts that “politics makes strange bedfellows.” That’s apparently true for professional football, too.
I never thought I would be rooting for Joe Flacco to do well at anything, and I would imagine the vast majority of Cleveland Browns fans felt the same way. We hated this guy when he was the starting quarterback of our division rival, the despised Baltimore Ravens, and he routinely led his team to trouncings of our beloved but inept Browns. We envied him when he led the Ravens to the playoffs and a Super Bowl win. We remember all too well that the last time he stepped onto the turf of Cleveland’s football stadium he engineered an improbable last-minute win for the Jets that crushed the souls of Browns fans everywhere.
Yet now, here is 38-year-old Joe Flacco, this guy we all used to revile, quarterbacking the Browns in their hour of supreme, desperate quarterback need. And, based his performance Sunday versus the Jacksonville Jaguars, when he threw for three touchdowns and 311 yards, he’s still got something to offer. To be sure, many of those yards came on defensive breakdowns by the Jaguars, but we must give the devil his due: Joe Flacco looked pretty good back there in his Browns uniform, deftly play-faking, dodging blitzes, and making pro-level, on-time throws to his receivers. For a guy who wasn’t playing football at all a month ago and was brought in to be the Browns’ fourth quarterback, he’s been amazing.
Hey, you know something? This Flacco guy is a pretty good dude after all! The Browns Backers everywhere have gone whacko for Flacco. What’s next–Browns fans grudgingly saying something nice about Ben Roethlisberger?
Today the worldwide brotherhood of Browns Backers had that familiar, sinking feeling. The team was playing its arch-rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Browns led at half, 10-0, but the Steelers came back thanks to a huge run, and seemed to be ready to inflict another heart-breaker on Browns fans.
The Browns offense was dismal in the second half, and seemed to have more negative plays than positive ones. But as the clock ticked down the defense held firm, forced the Steelers into a decisive three-and-out . . . and then the kid, rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson Robinson, came through. He overcame drops, and a tough Steelers D, and years of Browns futility, and led Cleveland to a huge win over the Steelers, 13-10.
On the last drive, DTR made huge plays. He was cool, he managed the clock, and he moved the team down the field on the two-minute drill to allow their kicker, Dustin Hopkins, to boot the winning field goal. DTR was 24 for 43 for 165 yards, didn’t throw a touchdown, and tossed an interception on a tipped ball; his quarterback rating was 54.9–but pay no attention to that. The key thing was that, when the game was in the balance, the kid kept his poise, made the throws he absolutely had to make, was incredibly accurate, and led the Browns to a dramatic victory in a game that, in years past, they clearly would have lost.
Thanks to the kid, the Browns at 7-3 and in the thick of the playoff race. Imagine that . . . the Browns are 7-3!
It’s hard to describe the ups and downs of being a Browns fan to someone who is not a Browns Backer. Browns fans are like a mistreated dog; even when something positive happens, they are cringing in anticipation of the next blow. So after the Browns won a game in miraculous fashion against the Ravens, and people started talking about the possibility that the Browns might actually make the playoffs, fans like me started wondering when the next inevitable disaster would strike.
And this morning, it happened. On the eve of a huge divisional game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Browns announced that their $230 million quarterback, Deshaun Watson, would be out for the rest of the year due to shoulder surgery. Just as the Browns got a glimpse of what Watson might be able to do for the team, after he went 14-for-14 in the second half against the Ravens and was a key factor in the Browns’ come-from-behind win, he’s suddenly gone from the picture.
Now the Browns will be starting a rookie quarterback, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, against the rugged Steelers defense. DTR, as he is called, played dismally in his one start after Watson was injured earlier this year. In that game, the rookie threw three interceptions, and Baltimore could have picked off a lot more. Maybe the rookie will play well–but there was nothing in his performance earlier this season to give fans a lot of confidence. And the back-up isn’t anything to brag about, either.
This is all part of what it means to be a beleaguered Browns fans. It makes me wonder what it’s like to be a fan of the Steelers, Ravens, or Bengals, the other teams in the division. Do they grow up expecting that there’s no reason to worry about the Browns, because they know deep down that the wheels will always come off the Cleveland bandwagon?
Yesterday was a travel day, which meant I couldn’t sit down and watch the Browns game against the Baltimore Ravens from start to finish. That probably was a good thing.
I was sitting in an airport dining area when a game break showed that the Ravens scored immediately on a pick six, and was just finishing my quick bite when another game break reported that the Ravens scored again on a long run. At that point I, and no doubt every Browns backer worldwide, felt the familiar sense of resignation that our team was going to lay an egg in another big game. But hope springs eternal, and as I moved to the gate area and got ready to board, I kept checking the score. The plane’s doors closed and I put my phone into airplane mode just as the game reached halftime with the Browns trailing, 17-9.
This was curiously liberating, rather than frustrating. I was cut off from Browns news for two hours, and knew that by the time I landed, the game would be over, one way or another. Either the Browns would lose, as seemed probable, or somehow win, but in any case I wouldn’t experience the ebbs and flows of the second half. I’d get the result in one message when my plane landed, like ripping off a band-aid rather than trying to gradually remove it. So I turned to my book, and tried to forget about the Browns, all the while knowing that the game was being played out far away and far below.
When my plane landed in Houston and I switched out of airplane mode, the first message I received was an ESPN alert that the Browns had won, 33-31, on Dustin Hopkins’ last-second field goal. I felt a surge of elation, and then tried to figure out what had happened during the second half. I tried to think of how I would have reacted if I had been watching the game as the Browns came back, then fell behind, then secured a miraculous win. I’m sure I would have been torn to pieces by the untimely fumble on a punt and the missed extra point if I had been watching it all happen live, but reading about it in retrospect was like watching something happen from a safe distance.
There’s nothing like the feeling when you watch your team win over a rival as it is happening, but when it comes to the Browns there’s something to be said for experiencing things from a safe distance, too.
The Cleveland Browns have a huge game today. The Browns travel to Baltimore to play the Ravens, who so far this season have been the best, most complete team in the AFC. If the Browns hope to contend for the AFC North title, they need to win this game, even their divisional record at 2-2, and bring the high-flying Ravens back to the pack.
Can the Browns do it? This is unknown territory for this franchise, where being in contention at the midpoint of the NFL season has been a rarity. The Browns have won some big games already this season, including beating the then-undefeated 49ers–but that win was at home. Going on the road to beat a very good Baltimore team on their home field is a more difficult challenge by orders of magnitude.
If the Browns are going to do it, Myles Garrett and the defense will need to lead the way. The offense has sputtered this season, whether Deshaun Watson has been on the field or not. The Browns aren’t going to win a shootout against the Ravens. In the first matchup of these teams this season, the Browns started a rookie quarterback who was overmatched. The defense played the Ravens tough initially, but the offensive turnovers kept the defense on the field and in bad field position. The defense got fatigued and the Ravens piled up the points and won handily.
If today’s result is to be different, the offense is going to have to figure out how to move the ball against one of the best defenses in the league, so that the defense can catch its breath after it chases Lamar Jackson around the field. Watson will need to play well, but the key will be whether the offensive line can open holes for the running game and give Watson time to throw. We’ll soon see whether the offense can control the ball and the clock, and whether the defense can corral Jackson and force him into turnovers–a problem that has plagued him in the past, but has not been an issue this season.
For teams in contention, every week is a big game. If this Browns team stays in contention, we Browns Backers will have to get used to the notion of fretting about a big game every week. It would be a nice problem to have.
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Webner House 