There were a lot of impressive things about the Browns’ 28-14 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium in the home opener.
 
That’s hardly surprising, because big wins like that are made up of many, many positives.
 
But the most impressive – and, better yet, the most important – of these was the way the Browns, especially their quarterback, Johnny Manziel, played in the late stages when the game was on the line.
 
Most games – almost all games — now in these days of NFL parity come down to the wire. Look at these weekend’s games – or last weekend’s games or any weekend’s games in recent years – and you’ll see what we mean.
 
As such, the biggest difference between say, the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, and the worst team in the league is not necessarily in personnel, though there’s certainly a difference, but rather it’s the way that New England’s personnel, especially the quarterback, some guy named Tom Brady – perhaps you’ve heard of him – constantly makes big plays in the waning minutes when most games are decided.
 
The Browns have been on the other end of that in the expansion era. They have had some playmakers who could work that late-game magic, but not enough of them, and not at all at quarterback. It’s why they’ve struggled so much since they returned to the field in 1999.
 
The Browns have had any number of leads late in the fourth quarter and then have lost them at the very end, and the game, when they’ve been unable to fight off that final threat by the opposition.
 
They’ve also had any number of gallant comebacks in the fourth quarter, only to fall just short of victory when they’ve been unable to make that one last play to get over the hump and finish the job.
 
It’s been excruciatingly maddening and frustrating.
 
Again, over the years, the Browns have stacked up favorably with the opposition when it comes to overall talent, but they don’t know how to seal the deal at the end to win.
 
Winning is an acquired taste. You have to learn it to earn it.
 
The Browns haven’t learned it.
 
That’s why what happened on Sunday was so very big. The Browns played like their opposition has in the previous 16 seasons. They made plays at the end to hold off the Titans and secure the victory.
 
They blew out to a 21-0 halftime lead with a performance so dominating that it was nearly perfect.
 
Then came the second half and an all-too-familiar sight after they’ve built big leads, the Browns beginning to wear down while the opposition gains energy at FirstEnergy and charges back like a surge of electricity.
 
It became 21-7.
 
Then it became 21-14 midway through the fourth quarter.
 
The Titans were gaining ground in clumps and the Browns were surrendering it in clumps.
 
The Browns got the ball back needing to at least get some first downs to eat up a good portion of the clock, if not all of it, to deny the Titans the opportunity to get the ball back with a chance to score a touchdown to tie the game and force overtime.
 
The Browns ground out some first downs when they have to be ground out in that situation, on the ground.
 
But then they did one better – actually, a lot better — than that.
 
On the play that everyone around these parts will remember for a long time, Manziel went back to pass, sidestepped the blitz from the left side and then scampered that way, toward his own sideline, still untouched. It looked at first as if he were just surveying the field as he patted the ball, but as it turned out, this more-savvy-than-we-thought kid had already surveyed the field and found his target, and was merely buying time until he got open.
 
So the second-littlest guy on the field heaved the ball as far as he could to a streaking Travis Benjamin, the littlest guy on the field, who, while running as fast he could, caught the ball in stride and raced untouched into the end zone. Just as the big pass rushers couldn’t catch up to Johnny Football, neither could the Tennessee secondary catch up to Travis Touchdown as he scored for the third time on the day, the second on a pass from Manziel.
 
Game.
 
Set.
 
Match.
 
Or as Indians radio play-by-play announcer Tom Hamilton likes to say when the verdict has for sure been decided, “Ballgame!!”
 
Certainly, it takes making plays throughout the ballgame to win.
 
But more than that, it takes making plays – big plays – late in ballgames, when those ballgames are on the line, especially big plays from the quarterback, to win.
 
The Browns got all that on Sunday, and it’s why they won.
 
And if they keep getting all that on future Sundays and Mondays this season, then they’ll continue to win.