Forget Last Monday! We're Back!

 

I realize the Titans are not a great team, but holy crap did the Browns kick the shit out of those guys.  The defense absolutely dominated.  Myles Garrett probably had his single greatest game as a Brown.  What did he have, 17 sacks or something?  Derrick Henry had 11 carries for 20 yards.  The pass coverage was rock solid.  This begs the question, is this actually an elite defense?  Or is this a good defense that has played three terrible offensive teams?  I'm not sure.  However, when the Browns play a team with a poor offensive line, that team's quarterback is going to be very sore the next morning.  Ryan Tannehill likely put a few extra Bayer Extra Strength Aspirin by his bedside.  It usually takes a month before teams figure out their identity, but it appears the Browns are shooting for "Good Defense/Good Enough Offense".  

Watson had, without question, his best game.  At times, I even stopped disliking him.  He had some shaky moments in the first half.   That weird backward lateral had a certain Weedenesque feel to it for example.  It wasn't the infamous "Full Weeden shovel pass", but it was memorable nonetheless.  It was actually disappointing that the Browns got the ball back.  Yet, Watson put that play past him and led sustained drives down the field over and over.  It had to be a gut punch when that ref blew that call after the pass to Cooper on the sidelines.  How did that ref call Cooper out of bounds?  He was standing right there.  Even on the replay it was evident he was staring at Cooper in bounds and then blew his whistle.  Did he have the Titans in a five game parlay?  I liked how on the broadcast Gene Steratore tried to bail the guy out with that paper thin concept of "momentarily losing focus" as if he were Mitch McConnell at a press conference.  

The great thing about the NFL is that six days ago we all wanted Deshaun Watson to disappear like a milk carton kid.  One Sunday home game later, we're all "He's back baby!" and love the guy.  If Watson keeps playing like he did yesterday, the Browns can win the AFC North.  Of course, we have seen one good game and eight bad ones, so it's a bit early to hoist the AFC North flag.  Yet, this did show how good the team can be with good quarterback play.  Even with "decent" quarterback play, this team is a handful.  The Bengals might be done if Burrow's "calf injury" (Shhhh!  It's not an Achilles injury) keeps him out for another 4-6 weeks.  The Ravens just lost to the Colts with Minshew at QB.  The Steelers are bullies with  NO offense.  The AFC North is very winnable.  The major question is how the Browns will squander this opportunity, because we all know they are going to fuck this up somehow.  But a win is a win, so let's not bring up the prospect of rain in the forecast.  

It seemed like Stefanski's play calling was a bit more imaginative Sunday.  That suggests he is aware of the reality of "Nick Chubb making something out of nothing isn't going to happen now" and he needs to be more creative.  That backyard flea flicker play was fun, even if it wasn't super productive.  The game started to slog down into that Stefanski Special where he goes off tackle, calls a pass in the flat, and then puts his entire focus into getting Harrison Bryant the ball.  I'm not sure what the fascination is with Bryant, but Stefanski fucking loves that guy.  Bryant is now apparently our short yardage specialist as well as go-to 3rd down option.  You can't stop Harrison Bryant.  You can only hope to contain him.

I keep hearing this narrative about how dangerous Elijah Moore is but there has yet to be any tangible evidence of this idea.  He had three carries for -1 yards, and 9 catches for 45 yards.  He's kind of like if Anthony Schwartz could catch the ball.  On that fumble the Titans stripped the ball from him like when the grade school kid plays backyard football with the middle schoolers.  Schwartz must have been watching that at home, tucking into some nachos, thinking "Shit, that could have been me getting stripped of the ball on TV if I could catch!".  Again, Stefanski spends a great deal of effort to get Moore the ball whereas Njoku and Peoples-Jones had four targets each.  I don't get it.   

The game this week with the Ravens is one of these classic early season hype train specials.  If the Browns can beat Baltimore, they'll be 2-1 in the first run through the division.  They can chalk the loss to Pittsburgh being a fluke product of self inflicted turnovers.  A win next week over Baltimore puts the team in the mindset of "We basically beat everyone and we are the cream of the crop in this division.  Fuck those other guys.".  But take a look at the other side of that coin...  Let's say Baltimore wins in their usual way where Lamar pulls a rabbit out of his hat and the Ravens win a close one.  Now the Browns are 1-2 in division and the mindset is "We were lucky to play Burrow hurt and those Ravens/Steeler guys beat us up.  Damn.  We're the worst team in this division.  Again.".  You can't win the division in September... but you can lose it.  

Go Browns.