Random thoughts about a victory that was anything but random, a come-from-behind 19-17 decision over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium:

*Like me, you probably rolled your eyes in disgust at the pre-game scuffle between the two teams. Men will be boys, yet again. But what no one realized — at least no one other than the Browns players and coaches, even though the latter may not want to admit it — was that the incident was a sign of things to come. The Browns came ready to fight, defend their home turf and not concede anything to the heavily-favored 49ers, and they took that fight — that attitude — into the game. Head coach Kevin Stefanski talked afterward about how hard his team fought. The Browns refused to give up.

*The early favorite for Browns MVP after just a little less than a third of the season? Oh, that’s easy. It’s first-year defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who is responsible for having brought that fight to his guys. And that has pereneated into other aspects of the team. Again, as I’ve mentioned before, this is the best defense — by far — and also the most physical and and toughest the Browns have had since at least 1994.

*Here’s some more praise for Schwartz. Come on, what chance did you give the Browns defense and the team overall, since the only chance for a victory rested with that side of the ball, after the 49ers took the opening kickoff and, aided greatly by two personal foul penalties, marched through the defense like a hot knife through butter for a touchdown? But Schwartz made adjustments both schematically and emotionally/mentally that shut down San Francisco right up until that final drive.

*And finally, Andrew Sicilliano did a great job calling the game on Browns radio. He came to know and have admiration for the Browns because of his dad’s fandom.

Steve King