NOTHING ‘EMBARRASSING’ ABOUT BROWNS’ BIG WIN
By STEVE KING
A great friend who knows a whole heckuva lot about football and the Browns, and whose opinion I really value, texted me after the team’s game on Sunday.
“The second half was embarrassing,” he wrote. “I’m not sure if I feel good about the win.”
Hmmm.
I was startled to read that. I couldn’t disagree more, and you know that if you read my piece following the Browns’ 41-35 road victory over the Tennessee Titans.
But still, I always respect what he has to say, so I thought about it.
Yes, he’s right with his first point that the second half was indeed a problem. It was troubling and fitful. Head coach Kevin Stefanski said he learned a lesson from the Dallas game earlier in the year about being too conservative on offense after building a big lead. But apparently, he — and his players, who were not focused and lethargic when they got way ahead — did not learn their lesson, And they have to change that.
But, at the same time, the team is young and still building, and as such still needs to figure out that you can’t let up. You have to put your foot on your opponents’ throat when you get them down, and finish the job.
So, then, the fact that the Titans came roaring back is part to their credit, but more so the fault of the Browns.
The Browns were up 38-7 at halftime. The whole country — myself included — is viewing the win as a beatdown. The Titans, including head coach Mike Vrabel, would tell you that. They got whupped, pure and simple. If halftime had not come when it did, the score might’ve gotten to 6-0-7. Really. The Titans were outplayed, outcoached, out-schemed and out-prepared, period.
With that, I am not at all embarrassed about anything — anything at all, not the second half, the third quarter, the fourth quarter, the final minutes of the fourth quarter — concerning that win. It vaulted the Browns to a new level emotionally, mentally and physically — a level they’ve not really seen in the expansion era.
As Browns running back Nick Chubb so aptly said right after the game, “I think people know we are a good team now when we play well, and that’s what we did today.”
The Browns are, as ESPN analyst Dan Orlousky said on ESPN Radio on Monday morning, “the Tennessee Titans of this season, a team that would be a tough out in the playoffs.”
If Orlousky is correct — and I think he is — then this was the Browns’ coming-out party. Everything that goes from here, started on Sunday in Nashville. It was a seminal moment.
As I wrote for Sunday morning, in a magical season like this, a team has to somehow find a way to win a game it shouldn’t win. The Browns, who were five-point underdogs and not given much of a chance, did win, in a big way.
And now that they’re no longer a surprise to anyone, they’ll be expected to win these big games against good teams going forward. And that starts next Monday night when the Baltimore Ravens, who won the open over the Browns by a whopping 32 points, 38-6, come to Cleveland for the rematch.
