BROWNS SHOULD TAKE WEEKEND ONLY TO CELEBRATE 

Listen to the Browns vs Bengals wrap up podcast right here

By STEVE KING

It’s already a victory weekend following their 35-30 decision over the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night Football, so let the celebration begin for the Browns.

They certainly earned it with the way they played. Ignore the five-point margin of victory, for the game, for all intents and purposes, wasn’t really that close. The Browns blew out to a 28-13 third-quarter lead and then withstood Cincinnati’s comeback.

The Browns played well offensively and defensively — though their kickoff coverage needs to improve — after struggling so much overall just four days earlier in a 38-6 loss at Baltimore in the season opener. As poorly as they performed against the Ravens, they performed that admirably against the Bengals.

They saved their season with that turnaround. Starting 0-2 is almost always a death knell for teams in terms of making the playoffs.

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So, yes, the victory, though this early in the season, was truly significant.
Despite all that, NFL head coaches like the Browns’ Kevin Stefanski will tell you — and they are right — that momentum, good or bad, doesn’t travel well in the league, It doesn’t carry over from one week to the next.

These are 16 weekly exams that are not connected to one another. Teams get a final grade at the end of the season — their record — that indicates how well they’ve done overall, but getting an A one week has no bearing on getting an A the following week, just as is the case with receiving an F. It’s why the Browns were able to play so well against the Bengals after getting steamrolled by the Ravens.

The Browns can whoop it up all weekend, but they had better plan on coming in Monday ready to go back to work for next Sunday’s visit by Washington with the same dogged determination they had in preparing for Cincinnati. If they come in believing that they’ve arrived and all is well with the world again, then a Washington team they should beat will beat them instead.

And they’d be 1-2 and in a hole, just as they were after the Baltimore game.