Some more quick-hitters from the Browns’ thrilling 39-38 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday:
*Success in the NFL is not built on style points, and it never has been. It’s about winning, pure and simple, in whatever fashion it can be earned. If it’s ugly and dysfunctional at times, then it’s ugly and dysfunctional at times. And so it was with the victory by the Browns. If a team can make plays at the end of the game when they are there to be made, then it will win. That’s what the Browns did. In that Kardiac Kids season of 1980, in their great run through the last half of the 1980s and when they made the playoffs in the expansion era in 2002 and 2020, they were plenty of moments that were hard to watch. But nobody remembers that. They remember only that the Browns won a lot of games and competed for championships by being beasts fimm ml Did you see how bad the Pittsburgh Steelers looked for three quarters against the Los Angeles Rams, or how bad the Kansas City Chiefs played for much of the second half against the Los Angeles Chargers, in two of the late-start Sunday afternoon games before winning?
*What would the Browns have done Sunday without running back Kareem Hunt? He was outstanding. Why the Browns never really seriously attempted to re-sign him in free agency in the offseason is mind-boggling? Yet another message in the same vein to Browns General Manager Andrew Berry: It means nothing to be a big bunch under the salary cap. It means everything to have players like Hunt who can help you win games. Just sayin’ — again.
*So, coaches get crucified if they try to push injured players back onto the field too soon, and they get crucified if they refuse to use healthy players because they are concerned about their well-being? That road can’t run both ways. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski did absolutely the right thing by not letting quarterback Deshaun Watson re-enter Sunday’s game because he did not feel comfortable about his health. He erred on the side of caution. I applaud him. In fact, I am rooting even harder for Stefanski to succeed.
*Everybody seems to be raving about the way the outstanding Browns defense played against the Colts, but I am not totally in that group. The defense was a mixed bag, sometimes tremendous and other occasions terrible. With all the issues on offense, the defense needs to keep carrying this team for a while. And coordinator Jim Schwartz’s guys can’t do that unless they’re a lot more consistent.
Steve King
