Quoth the Browns, "Nevermore!"

So, the Cleveland Browns appear to have righted the ship.  I can only imagine the elated looks from drivers on I-77 going in and out of Cleveland Monday morning, that is if they can look past to 15 miles of permanent orange barrels on the highway.  (It's probably worthy of an archeological survey at this point, I am quite sure that some of those construction projects began when I was in the third grade.)  The tone of Cleveland sports radio had to be jubilant all week long, as fans basked in the warm glow of a 40-25 beatdown of the Baltimore Ravens.  There are loads of stats worth mentioning, but let's highlight just a few.  Baltimore came into the game with zero turnovers in their first three games, and the Browns made them cough it up three times.  Baker was 20/30 for 342 yards, very reminiscent of his performance from last year. Chubb had 20 carries for 165 yards and 3 TD's, and Landry caught eight balls for 167 yards.  If you're the type of person who has a need to know the air yards per completion, or the receptions per broken tackle, here are enough stats to drown an insurance actuary.  As much as I love math and data, sometimes there's just too much information, and one does not need a PhD to know that last Sunday, the Browns were a far, far superior team to the Ravens.

One name not mentioned is Odell Beckham Jr, who was preoccupied throwing punches and maybe getting choked by Marlon Humphrey.  Perhaps that's why he registered only two catches for 20 yards on seven targets.  Time will tell if OBJ can maintain his composure in a game that unfolds like this.  He's notoriously volatile, perhaps you'll recall the time he fought a kicking net and somehow lost.  I love that emotional, fiery personality, even if it is problematic at times.  I have watched a lot Browns football in the last 20 years that has been apathetic, with overpaid mediocre players that were playing out the string.  So I love that OBJ plays so passionately, and that generally speaking there is a culture building in Cleveland of players that believe they can win, and they are willing to put it on the line each week.  (Postscript on the OBJ kerfuffle, he was fined $14,037 for the incident with Marlon Humphrey.  Does the NFL really think that's any kind of deterrent when his paycheck for the day was $1,046,875?)

A couple of other bright spots on the day involve penalties and Nick Chubb. (not simultaneously)  The Browns committed 6 penalties for 41 yards, a far cry from the 18 in week one.  Clearly that has been a point of emphasis in practice, so I need to give credit to Kitchens for that.  Along those lines, it's worth noting that the offensive line seems to have improved dramatically as well, Chubb ran wild on the Ravens defense and Baker was only sacked one time.  Speaking of Chubb, there was a huge moment in the game when Baltimore scored and got a two point conversion to make it 24-18 with 9:51 left in the fourth quarter.  However, 16 seconds later, Chubb ripped off an 88 yard touchdown, a whisker short of his 92 yard run last season, and it put the game out of reach for Baltimore.  Consider that information when compared to the following Browns running backs and their longest runs; Jim Brown (80), Leroy Kelly (70), Mike Pruitt (77), Greg Pruitt (78), Kevin Mack (65), Ernest Byner (54).  I'm not making the claim that Chubb is in that league (yet), but he has been electric at times in his first two years, and looks to be trending in the right direction.  

So the Browns now sit at 2-2 with a west coast road trip (against a rested 3-0 team) looming in their future.  For the third time in five weeks, the Browns will be on primetime, which means a 5 AM wakeup call here in Prague.  Every week is huge for this team, and having gone to Baltimore and beaten a coach who was 10-1 against the Browns was quite an accomplishment.  But now the trick will be to build on that, and keep the momentum going against a good 49er team.  Check back soon for a week 5 preview.

Go Browns.