FIRST THINGS FIRST, THE BROWNS LEAD THE DIVISION
By STEVE KING
Yes, of course, the Browns and Baltimore Ravens, both at 2-2, are seemingly tied for first place in the AFC Central after Cleveland pounded them 40-25 last Sunday.
But that’s not really true. Officially, the Browns are in first place all by themselves because of that victory. They own the first tie-breaker – heads-to-head meetings.
All that will balance out in the end. The Ravens will have the chance to get some revenge when the teams meet back in Cleveland on Dec. 29 in the next-to-last game of the regular season. Plus the teams must also play two games against both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Ravens.
The teams all have 12 games left overall, so, then, a lot can – and certainly will – happen. This fun – this competition, this battle – is really just getting started.
But right now – that is, if, for whatever reason the season ended today and the playoffs were beginning — the Browns would be crowned the division champion. It would mark the first time in exactly 30 years that they had captured the division title, the last occasion coming way back in 1989 when they ruled the AFC Central.
Is that a big deal? Well, yes and no.
Yes in that it’s been such a dry stretch, and yes, too, because one-fourth of the season has been played. So teams have had a little chance to begin proving who – and what – they are.
But no in that we’re only barely into October and the season lasts until the end of December.
I get all that, but first place all by yourselves is first place all by yourselves. It’s nice to see when you study the standings, with teams now looking up at Cleveland instead of Cleveland looking up at them.
I want to picture this in my mind, just like when current ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso, during the time that he was the head coach at Indiana in the 1970s, had the team photographer take a photo of the scoreboard at Ohio Stadium showing the Hoosiers ahead of Ohio State 7-0. He wanted to remember that unique moment.
The Hoosiers got obliterated from there by the Buckeyes. I just hope the same thing doesn’t happen to the Browns.
I like Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens’ pragmatic approach to football and his team.
A NICE WIN, BUT NOTHING TO GET CARRIED AWAY ABOUT
Yes, the Browns pasted the Baltimore Ravens 40-25 last Sunday to move to 2-2 and take over the lead in the AFC North on tie-breakers. It was a great win. The Browns needed to take some time to revel in it.
But that was for only 24 hours. After that, it was time to go back to work.
It was just one game – albeit, as said, a big game – but still just one game. The Browns didn’t win the division title. They didn’t win a playoff game. And they surely didn’t win the Super Bowl.
It was just one regular-season game, so don’t get carried away.
Kitchens described it this way during his daily press conference earlier this week:
“I think the thing about our business as I have said before is you get judged at the end of every week, and it is straight pass-fail. What you have to do sometimes is you have to temper those from the standpoint of you want to make just as much progress from the wins as you do the losses.
“Just because you lose a game does not mean you did not make progress, and just because you won a game does not mean you did not go backwards. You have to evaluate, call a spade a spade and say that these are the areas that we have to get better. I think our team has bought into that and has created an environment here that we just want to get better every day, and that is what we are going to try to do. I think we did some good things on Sunday, but it has to continue or you will not stay the same.”
So true.
Bonus:
A KICK IN THE PANTS OF THE NAYSAYERS
When the Browns were struggling – and rookie head coach Freddie Kitchens was really struggling – General Manager John Dorsey came under a good deal of scrutiny for going out on a limb and hiring him.
And also, his thinking-out-of-the-box way of making key decisions overall was being questioned, if not ridiculed.
The way one big-time media outlet put it was, “So, do you think John Dorsey is happy now that he hired Kitchens?”
Ha, ha.
But after the Browns went into Baltimore and manhandled the Ravens last Sunday, all that kind of stuff seemed to stop for whatever reason. Hmmm.
However, if the Browns lose to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football, then you can be assured that that noise will begin again.
In the meantime, though, let’s look at another great move that Dorsey helped pull off when conventional wisdom seemed to indicate that doing the easy, common-sense thing would have been a better choice.
Dorsey went out and signed punter Jamie Gillan and then signed off on keeping him coming out of the preseason at the fervent urging of new special teams coordinator Mike Priefer. Britton Colquitt, a dependable veteran, was returning after a solid season. So why not just keep him and move forward?
But in the untested Gillan, the Browns’ deep thinkers saw someone who had the potential to be much better than solid. He could possibly be great.
And proof of that came a few days ago when it was announced that Gillan had been named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for September.
No one is complaining now about keeping Gillan over Colquitt.
The Browns throughout this expansion era have made so many push-the-envelope, go-against-the-grain decisions that turned out to be disastrous that when this new bunch does it, the fans and everyone else just shake their head. But Dorsey and his guys know what they’re doing. I keep saying that because I truly believe it.
Tonight
JUST ONE IN THE STANDINGS, BUT MORE THAN ONE OTHERWISE
As the Browns get ready to play the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on Monday Night Football, we need to take a look at a few things.
For starters, all games in the NFL count as just one – a win, loss or a tie – in the standings. Nothing more, and nothing less. Just one.
Unlike the rankings to decide what schools make the College Football Playoff, it doesn’t do an NFL team any good to win by a lopsided score to make an impression on the selection committee. There is no selection committee. A 50-49 win is as good as a 3-2 win or a 42-0 win.
At the same time, beating the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots doesn’t benefit a team any more than defeating the Miami Dolphins, who, if they continue on this path of horrible play, may be ex-communicated to the Big Ten.
And likewise, it doesn’t hurt a team to lose to the Dolphins any more than it does to lose to the Patriots.
No, it doesn’t matter who you play. Rather, what’s important is that you win.
As Al Davis, the late, great Oakland Raiders owner, said so famously, “Just win, baby!”
And then there’s Herm Edwards, who put it just as simply by uttering, “You play to win the game!”
With that, then, the Browns got just one win in the standings when they throttled the Baltimore Ravens 40-25 two Sundays ago. But in what it meant to the Browns, well, that’s a different story. It was worth more than just one win in terms of how it lifted the Browns, beating a team they normally don’t beat, especially on the road, and a team that, going into the game, was in front of Cleveland by one game in the AFC North standings.
Tonight in San Francisco, the Browns can gain more than just a victory in terms of emotional and confidence-building rewards if they can continue that momentum from a week ago and beat a 49ers team that’s cruising along at 3-0.
