While it may have "only" been against the Jets, the Browns of my imagination showed up on Sunday. The NFL is full of incomplete and flawed teams, and this incomplete and flawed team played well.
The story of the week is Carthon being replaced by Jeff Davidson. Davidson proved the number one axiom of pro football: run the ball. The Browns did it with good effect and, most importantly, Droughns had 30+ carries. The committment to running the ball even when the yards weren't there was the most welcome sign to this Browns fan. It helped, of course, that Droughns generally picked up yardage.
Of almost equal importance was the organization of the offense. There weren't a lot of dumb penalties. There was very little of that "standing around, waiting for the play call" that has been a recent trademark. And there weren't times where the playcalls weren't illogical. Everything appeared to make sense, even when the Browns didn't execute. Let me repeat that: Everything appeared to make sense, even when the Browns didn't execute. Really, that's all fans are asking for...
But the defense really impressed me. Sure, it helped that Chad Pennington looked horrible. But credit the Browns D for not giving him a chance to ever get in sync. Kamerion Wimbley is officially a beast -- the guy is fantastic and I love watching him. He powerful and very fast, and he's a clear piece of the puzzle. And Sean Jones... has arrived. The guy has played well most games this season and Sunday was his best yet. He continued to be a ballhawk with two picks, he's proven to be an aggressive hitter, and he's looking better and better on blitzes. In short, I think we finally have the safety we've been looking for the past 6 seasons. Other guys played well too... I still like Brodney Pool, the entire defensive backfield gave up very little, and the front seven harrassed the Jets in just about every facet. It wasn't a dominating defensive performance, but it was certainly an aggressive and tough one. I like it.
All that said... the Browns got an absolute gift when Chris Baker was ruled out of bounds on the would-be game-tying TD. He was clearly coming down in bounds, or at least likely would have been, and Pool just launched into him. It was a good play by Pool and it would likely have jarred the ball loose had Baker not make a great catch with only his outside hand. And I credit Pool with the effort and delivering a big enough hit where Baker landed so far out of bounds that the ref erroneously concluded Baker couldn't have landed in. But it was the wrong call. The fact that it isn't reviewable is sort of strange, but I'll let Jets fans ponder that. I'd rather be happy with the win, and frankly the Browns did deserve a victory here.
Pieces of the puzzle. I think you need 6-7 on each side of the ball to be a playoff team. Other guys are promising, close, or solid. But they aren't quite the sort you have to build around. We need some linemen on this list.
Offense: Winslow. Edwards.
Defense: Wimbley. Davis. Jones. Bodden.
2-5 is not the record anyone hoped for the Browns. But how nice is it to be tied with the Steelers? It will be even better to beat the Steelers in a few weeks.
And someone tell me, why did Roethlisberger suit up this week? He has to know this is just not his year. And it's not like Batch was going to take his job if he lit up the Raiders.
This was a decent game from Frye because he did only what was necessary. He handed the ball off 33 times. He tossed mostly short passes. He keyed on Winslow and hit him for the big TD pass. He made one very bad play on the INT. He didn't do anything ill advised in the 4th quarter. His accuracy was okay. All in all, I'm happy with this sort of game. Sure, we need to see a bit more out of him in the big play department, but I'll take boring compentency over big play ability right now. The big plays will come later, I think.
The injuries to Andruzzi, Tucker, and McGinest are concerning for the stretch run. We need at least 2 of these guys to get back on the field, but that might be overly optimistic.
The rumors regarding Savage and whether he will remain the GM are strange. I guess I don't care whether he is GM, but I want to see him call the shots on the roster for the next couple years. In other words, I'm still drinking the Kool-Aid. But Frye and the dearth of draft success after the 2nd round are big open questions.
Last week, Peter King: "Have you ever seen a team sink like a stone faster than the Dolphins?"
Yes Peter, almost every year it happens. It's just more enjoyable when the sinking team is the same one that so many national voices wildly trumped up all offseason. It's a guilty pleasure, but I am really enjoying how the Dolphins have made so many sportswriters look foolish. I was wrong about a lot of the NFL season, but not the Dolphins.