A week ago, it was longtime play-by-play announcer Jim Donovan going crazy in the radio booth as the Browns won.

On Sunday, it was wide receiver Amari Cooper going crazy as the Browns won, defeating the host Houston Texans 36–22 in a game that wasn’t nearly that close. He turned in one of the greatest days for a pass-catcher in Browns history. As dynamic as they are, the numbers — 11 catches for a team-record 265 yards and two touchdowns — don’t do justice to just how good he was. The Texans simply couldn’t cover him, and so quarterback Joe Flacco, who threw for 368 yards and three scores overall in yet another tremendous performance, kept going to him again and again and again.

The Browns are now one win away from clinching a playoff spot. That could come Thursday night when they host the New York Jets in their home finale.

At the beginning of the year, if someone had said to you that the Browns would be 10-5 after 15 games and be on the verge of clenching a playoff spot for the first time since 2020, would you have taken it? Absolutely! Is the Pope Catholic?

But that’s where the Browns are, because they have more guts and more perseverance and more toughness than any team in the NFL right now. The injuries, especially at quarterback, have decimated them, yet they just keep going, refusing to quit.

This continues to be the most incredible season in Browns history, and by that we mean unexpected, because there’s no plausible explanation as to how a team so beat up — and you can now, unfortunately, add kicker Dustin Hopkins to the list — can keep winning games.

But we’ll talk about that more in the next couple days leading up to the Jets game. It’s Christmas Eve, and you need to go spend time with your family.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. And it will certainly be a good night for Browns fans.

Steve King