A TIME FOR SURPRISES, AND NOT SO MUCH

By STEVE KING

This – as the Browns get ready to finish their season at 4:25 p.m. Sunday with a visit to Baltimore to play the Ravens — is a story of opposites.

Of things that you could see coming – that is, if you’re a regular reader of this site, brownsdailydose.com.

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And of things that you couldn’t have begun to see coming, no matter how good your sight is.

Let’s deal first with the latter one.

The Browns (7-7-1) have already screwed up – a little bit – the season of the hated AFC North-leading Baltimore Ravens (9-6). That came back on Oct. 7 with a 12-9 victory in overtime over Baltimore, ending a five-game losing streak to the former Browns franchise dating back to the 2015 season.

If it weren’t for that loss to Cleveland 11 weeks ago, then the resurgent, red-hot Ravens, who have won five of their last six, just like the Browns, would have already clinched the division title. As it is, though, they are clinging to the smallest of leads – just a half-game – over the slumping, ice-cold Pittsburgh Steelers (8-6-1), who have dropped four of their last five.

The Ravens would obviously win the division with a victory over Cleveland on Sunday. But should the Browns beat the Ravens again and complete their first season series sweep of them in 11 years, then Cleveland will really screw up Baltimore’s season. The Ravens would then need Pittsburgh to lose at home to the Cincinnati Bengals in another 4:25 p.m. Sunday game. If Baltimore loses and Pittsburgh wins, then the Steelers would capture the division. If both teams lose, then the Ravens would be champions of the North.

Entering the playoffs as a wild card would be a difficult, convoluted endeavor for both the Ravens and Steelers. A lot of crazy, not-likely-to-happen set of circumstances would have to present themselves.

So, do you think that both the Ravens and Steelers – and their fans – will be scoreboard watching? Well, yeah.

Due to the fact they were coming off an 0-16 finish, there was no way anyone could have envisioned the Browns being such a factor in the division race.

Furthermore, for perhaps the first time in history, the hated Steelers and their fans will obviously be rooting like crazy for the rival Browns to win on Sunday. In fact, that strange, new-found allegiance to the …  Browns? … started several days ago with Steelers fans – and Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown himself – adding an “s” to the end of his last name on the back of both replica jerseys and the real thing.

There will be chants of “Go B-r-o-w-n-s!” ringing through the Fort Pitt Tunnel and the Hill District, like verbal Terrible Towels painted seal brown and orange. Imagine that?!

Ex-Browns like Doug Dieken and Turkey Jones are getting a big yuck out of that. And ex-Steelers like Mean Joe Greene and Jack Lambert are spitting through their clenched teeth.

Also, did we mention that the dangling participle, so to speak, at the end of the Steelers’ record, is courtesy of the Browns? They tied Pittsburgh 21-21 at Cleveland in the season opener.

So, I guess, then, that the Browns have already screwed up the Steelers’ season, too, right? Yes, for with a win instead of a tie in the opener, Pittsburgh would be tied with Baltimore for first place. As it is, the Steelers are on the outside looking in, with the Brownie Elf’s teeth marks still visible on their pants leg.

Now for the thing you could have seen coming if you’re a longtime reader of this website. Remember my friend I told you about, the native Northeast Ohioan and big Browns fan who, from having played Division I college football and then being a Division I high school head coach, really knows the game inside and out? Leading up to the 2018 NFL Draft, I wrote about him being adamant that the Browns should take quarterback Baker Mayfield with the No. 1 overall pick. My friend was convinced Mayfield had the best physical skill set of any of the top-rested quarterbacks, along with also the best mental and emotional demeanor, one steeped with a gritty, tough-minded, gritty, persevering, I’ll-show-you theme that, my friend made clear, would be perfect for like-minded Clevelanders and Browns fans.

Mayfield’s on-field performances have already proven my friend right in one-half of his analysis, and now the personality is proving him right in the other half with the quarterback’s refusal to budge an inch in his disrespect of Benedict Arnold-like former Browns head coach Hue Jackson, and also of all those so-called “experts” who are criticizing Mayfield for feeling that way.

You know, at this point of the season the previous 10 years, there was nothing – at least nothing good, or interesting – to write or talk about concerning the Browns. Now there is so much to digest that it is overflowing. Sunday’s game in Baltimore is a must-see. The TV ratings in Cleveland will be through the roof. There is no funeral dirge this time.

It’s amazing what winning, a great young quarterback and two coaches who really seem to know what they’re doing in Gregg Williams and Freddie Kitchens, will do for ya.

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