It’s really difficult being a Cleveland Browns fan, even when it shouldn’t be. For example, we went on the road last week and put up 49 points on the vaunted Dallas Cowboys. The Browns are 3-1, and that’s pretty rare air for this franchise in the past couple of decades and we should be excited about that. Cleveland ran for over 300 yards, and even had some crazy gadget plays for touchdowns. But when you’re from Northern Ohio, it’s always about waiting for the other shoe to fall, and after celebrating for a few hours the naysayers began to point out the obvious. The Browns have three wins against pretty terrible teams (combined 3-8-1) and you could probably be critical of Baker Mayfield as well, he has pretty pedestrian numbers by most metrics (180 yards/game and 62% completion). The defense is allowing 31 points per game, and near the cellar in this league. And while the Cowboy game was their most exciting win, they were up 41-14 and needed a miracle play from OBJ to win the game. So yes, the critics are quite correct to make those observations and point out that despite three wins, the Browns haven’t actually played that well.
However, recall that here at 4338 we are all about accentuating the positive, disregarding traditional statistical analysis, and celebrating whenever we can. So hell yes, we should be excited about the Browns! They are scoring points like crazy, the defensive line is eating opposing quarterbacks for breakfast, and there isn’t a team in the league more excited about a game on Sunday. It is such a shame (in 100 ways) that fans won’t be jamming that stadium tomorrow and creating a raucous atmosphere reminiscent of the Kardiac Kids from the 1980’s. A win on Sunday puts them at 4-1 with games against the Steelers, Bengals, and Raiders up next, and people in Cleveland will be drooling about playoff possibilities. Before we move on to breaking down the Colts, there are a few more observations to make from Dallas. First off, I was completely wrong a few weeks ago to speculate if OBJ is a guy who helps a team win games. He had three touchdowns, and seemed to be a video game character more than an actual human being. I also was critical of Austin Hooper, but he did have 5 catches and his first touchdown as a Brown. However, I am still sticking with my guy Harrison Bryant who had 4 catches and blocked like nobody’s business against Dallas. Again the Browns won the turnover battle forcing three takeaways from the Cowboys, and of course the 307 rushing yards without Nick Chubb is remarkable. All that said, nothing is easy as a Browns Fan, and when the lead shrank to 41-38 it wasn’t a good feeling for anybody in Northern Ohio.
This week, the Indianapolis Colts come calling to FirstEnergy Stadium. I can only imagine the collective sigh of relief being exhaled (through a mask) by all the Cleveland Browns reporters who won’t have to make the trip to our strange neighbor to the west. Truth be told, I have to go to my cheat sheet about states that start with the Letter “I” to differentiate between Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Idaho. I know Idaho is the one with the crazy anti-government militias, Illinois is the one with Chicago and their terrible so-called deep dish pizza, and Iowa is the one with the baseball field in a cornfield. So that leaves Indiana; home of the Little 500 bicycle race that inspired the academy award winning film Breaking Away* It was also the location of Elvis’ last performance a couple of months before his death, and the place where Castle Wolfstein was invented for the Apple II home computer in 1981. So clearly the Hoosier state has a long and storied history of being culturally relevant, albeit in a midwestern niche.
For the second time in a month, the Browns will take on a relocated team, one that was callously ripped out of a city, leaving a fan base and an entire region high and dry. Last month it was the Ravens, and we all remember 1995 when Art Modell made the infamous announcement about relocating the Browns to Maryland. A decade before that, Baltimore Colts owner Bob Irsay moved the Colts to Indianapolis literally in the middle of the night, via a fleet of Mayflower moving trucks. Point being, Indianapolis doesn’t exactly have 75 years of NFL history to claim as their own. While the Colts franchise can collectively claim Peyton Manning, Johnny Unitas, Marvin Harrison, John Mackey, and Art Donovan, none of those guys are suiting up tonight. And actually, the 2020 version of the Colts is a little bereft of superstars. The big offseason addition is quarterback 39-year-old Phillip Rivers, who has spent the last 16 seasons throwing passes for the San Diego / Los Angeles Chargers. He’s definitely a hall-of-famer with 60,000 yards passing and 400 touchdowns in his career, and is quite accustomed to lighting up the scoreboard. Beyond Rivers, it’s not exactly a who’s who of NFL talent. Jonathan Taylor is the leading rusher, and somebody named Mo Alie-Cox is the leading receiver. There are no real defensive superstars, but they play very cohesively, and the defensive line gets a lot of run nationally for being among the best in football. The Colts also lead the league with seven interceptions and are allowing a paltry 160 yards of passing per game.
I’ve read a few pieces this week and of course listened to a few episodes of Orange and Brown Talk , and there seems to be a prevailing opinion that this Colts defense is something special, and we are likely to have a hard time moving the ball against them. Statistically, they look great on defense, but those stats don’t always take into account the quality of the opponents. Like Cleveland, the Colts are 3-1 but two of their wins are against the Vikings and Jets, who are both winless on the season. Their other win is against the fraudulent Chicago Bears (and their fraudulent pizza) because the Bears have 2 wins against winless teams as well. The two previous, unnecessarily complicated sentences are meant to indicate that the Colts are not really as good as they may appear. For example, the Colts offense hasn’t scored more than 2 touchdowns in any one game, and they had some timely help from their defense along the way. The way Cleveland is clicking on offense, the Colts will have to score a lot in order to keep up, and this could be yet another high scoring affair. Truth be told, there are a lot of similarities between these two teams and I think it will be a one score game. The Browns have a huge advantage at the skill positions on offense, and I think Myles Garrett will likely harass Rivers all night long. I’m picking the Browns to win this game 31-27.
Go Browns.
*This a great movie, but I had no idea it won an Academy Award (best screenplay) or that it was nominated for a total of five Academy Awards. It even inspired a short-lived TV show starring Shaun Cassidy and was set as a prequel to the film.
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