2018 Browns' Chronicles: Week 3

 

By Kris Mead

1. We Won! The best part about this win was that it was a decisive win in all three phases of football. The offense, once Tyrod was no longer able to play and Baker inserted in, looked fantastic and the defense, as it has been doing in the last two games, was dominant. So, in saying that it was “decisive” I am referring to the fact that it felt like the Browns were a legit NFL team … for once. For instance, in 2016, in the one game that the Browns won that year, it was great that the Browns won, but it wasn’t decisive.  It was more or less extremely lucky – Josh Lambo shanked the Charger’s game tying field goal. Further it was late in the year,  so the fans just wanted “a” win to avoid the dreaded 0-16 record, which, little did we know, would be awarded to us the following year.  


However, this win, which happened on September 20, 2018, was like what the Battle of Gettysburg was to the Union Army. Before the North’s victory at Gettysburg they were getting beaten profusely.  The North’s only “meaningful” win was at the Battle of Antietam, but this battle was essentially won after both armies annihilated each other.  It just so happened at the battle’s conclusion that there were more Union troops standing in the ocean of blood than Confederate troops. So, for purposes of football, consider the Browns’ win on December 24, 2016 against the San Diego Chargers as their Antietam.  


2.A Tale of Two Quarterbacks. The First Half. Tyrod Taylor played the role of General Burnside or General Hooker. It doesn’t matter which of the two Union generals are picked because they both sucked, like Tyrod did. Tyrod was brought in, not because he won games, but because he didn’t lose games. So, the Browns knew their defense was good and figured that if their defense could hold up, then Tyrod could make at least one or two drives to get the Browns some points. But that was not the case. The defense held up their end of the bargain, but Tyrod, like Generals Hooker and Burnside, couldn’t clinch a decisive victory. In the first half, the half that Tyrod played almost the entirety, Tyrod went 3 for 22 passing for 19 yards.

Tyrod resembled 1^st Lieutenant Norman Dike, from the World War II miniseries, Band of Brothers. Dike assumed the role of company commander of Easy Company. At one point he attempted to attack a village but was pinned down and ordered his men to take cover behind a wagon, as a machine gun barreled down on them. Dike’s sergeants informed him that he must decide where his soldiers should move, because if he didn’t, they would all be annihilated. Tyrod was hiding behind the wagon, as the machine gun, in this case the Jets defense, kept pinning him down. Tyrod was so afraid to make a mistake that his decision making froze, causing him to throw bad passes and miss obviously open receivers. While Tyrod did risk a deep pass (twice), it just seemed that his arm strength wasn’t there, as the Browns wide receiver was too fast for his limp throws. Despite the wide receiver beating his defender, both underthrown deep passes were nearly intercepted, forcing the wide receiver to come back to the ball. Tyrod suffered the same fate as Lieutenant Dike, in that Tyrod was relieved from his battlefield duties and sent back to HQ or in football terms, the bench.

3. A Tale of Two Quarterbacks. The Second Half. I’ll admit Baker Mayfield was not my favorite quarterback in the draft.  I thought he was immature and lacked athletic ability. However, winning is the best kind of deodorant and no matter how bad you “smell” (I’m looking at you Rapistberger, Michael Vick, and Ray Lewis) it always covers the nastiest of stenches. In Baker’s defense there wasn’t any egregious behavior before the NFL, and, so far, there hasn’t been any sort of immature or egregious behavior that has occurred while he has been in the NFL. With that said, Baker Mayfield was the Browns’ Gustav Adolphus (the leader of the Swedes who single handedly turned the tide in the Protestant’s favor during the Thirty Years War). The stats speak for themselves: 17 of 23 for 201 yards passing and a QBR of 94.9. Remember, these stats are over just one half of football! However, the stat line doesn’t justify what Baker did for, not only the Browns, but for all Cleveland Browns fans. Baker Mayfield looked like a pro quarterback. He electrified a dispirited team, he had both accuracy and zip on the ball, and he was decisive with his throws. Baker looked like Brett Favre. Actually, let me rephrase - Baker looked like Brett Favre on the field, not the Brett Favre who sent pictures of his “you know what” to a female reporter (I’m sure Brett’s wife loved that kind gesture of his!), and now, ironically, does Wrangler Jean commercials sponsoring their “V” shape crotch jeans meant for “extra comfort.”


4.We Looked Like a Real Team. I know I alluded to this in the first section, but the Browns finally looked like a TRUE NFL team. Typically, the Browns play similar to an unbalanced table. For instance, let’s say you have a table in which three of the four legs reach the floor, while the other leg does not. So, what do you do? You grab a couple sugar packets and place them under the adjacent leg to balance the table. However, imagine placing sugar packets under every foot and still the table fails to balance. That’s the Browns of yesteryears. At one moment the offense could be playing great, but the defense doesn’t know where they are, or, and more typical, the offense plays like a Pee Wee football team and the defense eventually gets worn down. Then there are the times in which none of the table’s legs reach the floor, like when our only consistent play is a punt and our pass defense, plays like butter being sliced by a warm knife!


On September 20, 2018 the legs of the table all reached the floor and the sugar packet, it appeared, that worked, was Baker Mayfield! He brought the best out of the offense – receivers catching passes, balls being thrown with crisp power and accuracy, the running game was moving, and the defense held strong. Further, this team’s draft picks are proving to be effective. With a team that has made a namesake for missing picks and drafting busts, this was a relief. Denzel Ward played like a corner that we have needed for years, Myles Garrett looks like a number one overall draft pick with getting two sacks, Ogunjobi is playing like a defensive tackle that we haven’t seen since Sean Rogers (and hopefully Ogunjobi doesn’t “accidently” bring guns in a suitcase while going to an airport), and even Jabrill Peppers is playing surprisingly well.  


Although General Meade won Gettysburg, it would be dreadful if Baker becomes a “General Meade.” Yes, Gettysburg was important to the Union, but it was the high-water mark of Meade’s notoriety and battlefield prowess. What Cleveland needs Baker to become, and hopefully has found, is a General Grant or General Sherman - someone who can take command, be a force that its opponents fear, and provide consistent victory. So yes, it’s nice the Browns finally won a game, but that was just a battle, the war is far from being won.


On to Oakland!