Earning Their Place in History

As a Lions fan it is difficult to swallow the fact that our record was matched. But I do have to admit that the Browns earned history in a way not many teams could. It is inspiring that they were able to achieve such greatness after falling short only a season ago. In fact, they were so close to doing this last year, I didn’t think they would be able to bounce back. But just like the Falcons have been able to bounce back from a tough loss in the Super Bowl, the Browns bounced back after an unexpected win over the Chargers. They had to face those demons again this year in Week 13, when this time they were able to pull out the loss to the Chargers. However, there were a few scares that almost stopped this incredible feat from happening.

Titans 12 Browns 9 Final/OT: In a game that took the great Joe Thomas out almost destroyed the Browns season, the Browns almost blew their chance at history. The Titans, a playoff team that just upset the KC with a big comeback, was able to survive a classic 2 minute drive by Cody Kessler. Browns Rookie Zane Gonzalez, who I guess didn’t understand what the Browns are about, hit a 54 yard field goal to send the game to overtime. The Browns did their best in overtime having -11 yards of offense in the extra period. Succop mercifully ended the game and extended the Browns season with a 47-yard field goal.

Lions 38 Browns 24 Final: This high scoring affair could have had devastating results if the Lions did not knock out Kizer for 2 drives in the fourth quarter. Kessler in Kiser’s place had 2 efficient 3 and outs to seal the game.

Packers 27 Browns 21 Final/OT: This was the biggest scare. Everything started off as the Browns wanted it to. Brett Hundley led a long 11-play touchdown drive for the Packers, but suddenly everything went wrong. The Packers offense stalled out completely and the Browns found themselves scoring 21 unanswered points. The Browns could not allow Brett Hundley to ruin everything they worked so hard for. At the start of the fourth quarter the Packers scored a touchdown to cut the lead to 7, a good start for the Browns. On the Packers next drive they moved the ball from their own 3 to their 47 only to have their drive stall out and the game seemed to be slipping away. However, a clutch incompletion by Kizer led to a Browns 4th down and a punt. That punt may have saved the Browns season as they gave up a 65 yard punt return. Hundley, too good to mess up great field position like this, only faced 2 3rd downs on the short drive that led to the game tying touchdown. Winning the OT coin toss was not in the Browns’ plans, but they decided to use it to their advantage as they came up with a daring idea. Let’s like Kizer try to throw the ball to “win” the game. Kizer on his second pass in OT threw it complete to Josh Jones for a Green Bay First down! 6 plays later the Packers scored a touchdown and the rest is history!

I picked the Packers to play spoilers to the Browns season and thankfully I was wrong. The Browns are set up for an all time dynasty as they are retaining Hue Jackson who is 1-31 with the club.
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A note for the NFL Scouts reading this. Any QB the Browns pass on is probably your next franchise guy.