After a brief hiatus involving moving, crime, and too many Zooms to count, the staff of 4338 is finally back on the job and ready for a December playoff push in Cleveland. You read that right, I think Browns fans can be pretty confident about playing some football in mid-January. (The nerds at 438 have Cleveland with a 92% to make the playoffs) The atmosphere in Cleveland must be a strange amalgam of anticipation, jubilation, and disorientation as well. (Feel free to insert any other word that ends in -tion) It’s been so long since we were in the playoffs (2002), that I genuinely think fans might be at a loss for what to think/feel. It definitely feels like we are getting away with something, that we’ve somehow perpetrated a scam on the NFL in some way. It’s so unfamiliar to be in a position to finish with 11 or 12 wins that I find myself surprised when it occurs to me this team could actually win a playoff game. (All the while I am sheepishly recalling I picked this team to go 8-8) As Cleveland fans, our attention is naturally drawn to the 8, and not the 92 in the playoff equation. I heard more than a few callers on Cleveland sports radio laying out doomsday scenarios, and I understand curbing your enthusiasm a bit until it is official that we’re in the playoffs. But let’s recognize that this coaching staff has made a titanic shift in the culture of this organization. Everybody from Baker Mayfield to the grounds crew show up on Sunday mornings expecting to win, not just hoping to keep it close. In a truly bizarre 2020, Kevin Stefanski and his unflappable demeanor provided a stability that this organization hasn’t seen in decades. Those things don’t point towards a late-season swoon, they point towards roaring into a first round playoff game ready to score some points against anybody, anywhere.
Regardless, there are a few things to be mentioned from the past few weeks. The Browns beat a listless Texans team 10-7 in horrible weather in Cleveland, and there literally isn’t a single highlight worth mentioning. (In terms of watchability, this game was right up there with the thrilling 6-3 win over the Bills in 2009, widely regarded as one of the worst football games ever played.) It was difficult to watch the Texans game, and even more difficult to watch the highlight reel after; I found my attention drifting towards more interesting things like mold growing on an old cup of coffee, or a youtube video on bookbinding practices of Victorian England. Exactly one week later, against the Philadelphia Eagles, Sione Takitaki got the party started with a pick 6* and it turns out they needed all six of those points to eke out a 22-17 victory in yet again torrential rain and wind. My disdain for Philadelphia, their criminally insane fans, cheesesteaks, and even the Liberty Bell is well-documented, so I will not wax poetic about what a dump that city really is. This win moved us to 7-3, and even the most grizzled, jaded Browns fans started thinking about playoff possibilities. Week 12 saw the Browns traveling to Jacksonville Florida, a place where Applebee’s accounts for 85% of the cultural opportunities and it’s buy one get one free on scabies treatments at your local Walgreens. The Browns managed to barely beat a winless team 27-25 in a game that was dominated by Nick Chubb and Jarvis Landry playing as if they were in a hurry to get a win, and leave that state. The win was important for sure, but perhaps pales in comparison to managing to return from the state of Florida without any facial tattoos, COVID, or a crystal meth problem.
That brings us to week 13, and the Browns took a road trip to Nashville to take on a legitimately good team, one that went to the AFC championship game the year prior. I realize that I do have a habit of disparaging other NFL cities, but that’s hard to do when it comes to Nashville. (The obvious exception is the fact that Nashville was the epicenter of the, thank god, short-lived fad of country line dancing.) But it is an amazing city; from the Pancake Pantry in the west end near Vanderbilt, to Jack’s BBQ on Broadway, not to mention the Willie Nelson Museum and Ryman Auditorium. In my brief stint in technical sales, I was in Nashville once a month or so, and liked it enough that I even considered moving there at one point. But I digress. The Browns came into the game as a significant underdog, both in the point spread and in the eyes of the national media. It is easy to point to the two blowouts against Pittsburgh and Baltimore, and make the claim that the Browns have beaten up on bad teams (but also giving up 28 points a game) and lost decisively to the playoff teams. But the Browns came into the game with a blatant disregard for what anybody has to say, and immediately jumped all of the vaunted Tennessee defense. Before you could say “Let’s go to Parma for pierogies” the Browns were up 17-0 at the beginning of the second quarter, and really never looked back. At halftime the Browns led 38-7, and had broken several franchise records for first half offense. Unfortunately, football games often have two halves. And the second half was ugly. The Titans beat the brakes off of Cleveland outscoring them 28-3 the rest of the way. I’m not sure there’s a lot to be gained by analyzing the second half. The Titans could play with nothing to lose and they threw the ball all over the field and banged out 4 touchdowns in a half. Even though the Titans got dangerously close to pulling off a comeback, I never really felt like the outcome of the game was in jeopardy. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather win by 17 than 6, but in this crazy year, a win is a win, and there are no bad wins. Most importantly, we’ve got 9 of them now.
Go Browns.
*Enjoy Jim Donovan’s call of the play, he’s an all-time great and up there on Mt. Rushmore with Tom Hamilton and Joe Tait. (I guess one other person too, maybe Ghoulardi? Legendary weatherman Dick Goddard?)
No comments:
Post a Comment