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It was great that the Browns defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23–19 almost two weeks ago.
It was their first win of the year, and the first for Todd Monken as a head coach. It was impressive in the way the Browns went back into the locker room after the field was cleared because of a storm warning, and then returned a full two hours later to halt the Bucs in the final two minutes to preserve the victory. Nothing like a big win like that to take the bad taste out of their mouth following a 34–10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars the week before in the season opener.
It was great, too, that the Browns followed that win up with another one last Sunday, coming from behind to defeat the Carolina Panthers 21–18 in their home opener. The Browns got ahead 10-0, allowed the Panthers to take the lead and then scored a touchdown to go in front and held off Carolina on its last-ditch drive. Starting out the home season with a win is crucial.
Check out 10 Things Cleveland Must do to Win Thursday Night
Having said all that, though, those two wins pale in comparison to what a victory over this Pittsburgh Steelers tonight on Thursday Night Football would do for the Browns. It’s like night and day, really.
The Steelers come to town with a lot of cachet. Beating them is always one of the big keys to having success within the AFC North. They are the team against which you measure your success. Doing it in front of a national television audience would mean even more — a whole lot more, in fact. It would add a lot of credibility to the Browns and would legitimize what would then be a 3–1 record. It would prove to the world that the Browns have made great strides.
In addition, the the meeting with Pittsburgh is the opening act of three big games for Cleveland pro sports teams over the next several days. The Central champion Guardians play Game 1 of their American League Divusion Series against the Chicago White Sox on Saturday at Progressive Field, and then stay there for Game 2 on Monday.
So, then, the spotlight, the limelight and all the eyes of the sporting world are going to be on Cleveland. It’s a big, big time, and a big opportunity.
The time is right. The time is now.
Can the Browns find a way to win? Forget all the x’s and o’s and just do what you need to do to get the job done. It doesn’t matter if it’s 3–2, 50–49 or some other score. Just have more points than the Steelers at the end of the game.
This should be a lot of fun. And it would be a heck of a lot more fun if the Browns got things started off the right way with a win.
Steve King
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