They Won?

 

Look, I'll be honest with you.  I didn't see the entire game.  I played a gig with Lee Rocker at the Music Box which required me to drive the van down for load in at 4pm.  That provided me the experience of watching the first half, taking a shower and putting my little cowboy outfit on at halftime, listening to the third quarter on the radio, and missing most of the fourth quarter as the band's visibly intoxicated drummer talked over the entire radio broadcast with a non-linear narrative that never quite resolved.  After arriving in The Flats and hauling the gear to the stage, I did get to watch the last drive on my iPhone.  It was like one of those ads that show people having the time of their lives with their device as some pop hit song plays in the background.  That was me with the exception of muscling an Ampeg bass head and enormous cabinet up a staircase.  I stopped the van and they were down double digits.  I pulled it up on my phone a few minutes later and the Browns were down one and driving down the field late.  It was very confusing.  

Like most of you, I was assuming the afternoon would end in disgrace and heartbreak, as that is the rich tradition of Cleveland Browns football.  The team can try and sell us the idea of fuzzy black and white film of Jim Brown and Otto Graham being the tradition, but what Browns Tradition truly represents is having your Sunday ruined by watching the team get embarrassed in a way that you never thought was possible.  It was stunning that they came back from a double digit deficit not once, but twice.  I figured that after that "what just happened?" pick 6 to start the game it was going to be a public beatdown, but they just kept coming back.  In these NFL games if a team can just sort of hang around and not get finished off, they can usually make the other team pay.  That's exactly what happened to Baltimore.  I was expecting that field goal at the end to bonk off the upright.  Where was Wonder Kicker when Baltimore needed him?  Even Ravens fans must have felt confident in their seats thinking "I wonder what Brownsy thing is going to happen and allow us to win?".  They must have been shocked.

That was a monster win.  The defense gave up 31 points, but 14 of those points came from the pick 6 and the muffed punt return deep in their own territory.  The defense blocked a FG, scored a touchdown on a pick 6 of their own, and held the MVP favorite Lamar to a QBR lower than Watson's.  Myles had another 1.5 sacks and is a 50/50 shot to win Defensive Player of the Year.  I think what was most impressive though is they didn't quit.  Past Browns teams would have gone limp as soon as they were down 14-0 five minutes into the game and taken a beating while losing 35-10.  This team kept fighting.  I think at this point you have to move the Browns into that large pool of AFC teams that could win the Playoffs.  The defense is a difference maker.

The parity in the league is either great because almost everyone is still in it, or maybe can be interpreted as everyone is slightly average.  I have no idea.  If you can figure out what it means that Kansas City lost to Denver who lost to Miami who lost to Buffalo who lost to Jacksonville who lost to Houston who lost to Baltimore who lost to Cleveland who lost to Pittsburgh then you have a better grasp on it than I do.  You can point to nine teams in the AFC and come up with a reasonable argument on why they can win the AFC.  Normally at this point of the year it's already time to speculate on who the next Browns coach is going to be, not figure out potential Playoff opponents.  And yet, the whole thing can go south just as fast as this "statement game" happened.  

Here's a narrative for you...  The Browns make a statement game victory by beating the Ravens in Baltimore and can take control of the AFC North with a win at home versus Pittsburgh this Sunday.  Watson is finally starting to show why the team sold their souls to acquire him and is playing well enough to give them a chance to win versus anyone.  The defense is the best in the league, creating points off turnovers, which will only get better as the weather sours.  With four soft opponents left on the schedule, they are essentially guaranteed to go 10-7 and make the Playoffs.  Once in the tournament, we all know that defense wins championships.  This is the year they go to the Super Bowl, and strangers will fellate one another in the streets as Michael Stanley Band's "This Town" blasts out of speakers mysteriously erected all over the city.

Here's the counter narrative...  The Browns have been on a good run but the injuries to the offensive line are too much to overcome.  They just don't have the depth to absorb it.  Watson gutted out a good second half in Baltimore to win the game but took a massive beating, something that will continue until he is unable to stay on the field.  Three weeks from now in LA, Aaron Donald lays a hit on Watson that detaches his arm from his shoulder completely.  As the training staff shovels the arm into the blue tent to try and re-attach it to Watson's torso, Fox analyst Greg Olsen somberly says "You hate to see a guy become an amputee like that, but PJ Walker is a real gamer.  Let's see if the team rallies around him.".  The Browns finds themselves hanging by a thread to the last playoff berth after unexpected losses to quietly improving Denver and Houston on the road.  Needing to win their last game to get into the Playoffs, the season concludes at Cincinnati where Joe Burrow needs to knock the PJ Walker led Browns out of the Playoffs to secure Cincinnati's spot.  

It can go either way.

It's almost Thanksgiving and the Browns are one back from Kansas City and and Baltimore from having the best record in the AFC.  They just beat the Ravens on the road missing both starting tackles and giving away 14 points on turnovers.  I'll tell you what, they have as good a chance as any team in the league.  You can run the "good news/bad news" narrative game on anyone.  It's a thin margin between all these teams in contention.  This game versus Pittsburgh on Sunday has to be one the Browns have circled though.  The Steelers punched them in the mouth, stole a win and knocked Chubb out of the season in their last matchup.  I have to think this is one the Browns want to win badly.  This is one of their Games Of The Year.  And just to rain on the parade before it gets going, that Denver game the following week is an ideal spot for a letdown loss.  Remember tradition and always think Brownsy everybody!

Go Browns.