The Browns Go Down Fighting
The Browns may have lost Sunday’s game vs. the Jets, but we witnessed a team that obviously believes in themselves, never gives up and came within a couple of plays of its third straight win against a superior team with Super Bowl dreams.
And we definitely witnessed that Colt McCoy is the real deal and why Mike Holmgren deserves every penny of his salary.
The Browns gave the Jets everything they could handle but a couple of mistakes and first-half injuries to Joshua Cribbs (The PD is reporting he dislocated four toes on his right foot), Scott Fujita and Sheldon Brown added up to a solid effort that came up just short.
The Jets appeared to take control of the game at the start of the second half, as they put together a 19-play drive that took 10 minutes off the clock. Even though they ended up missing a field goal, the Browns subsequently went three-and-out on their next three possessions and seemingly lost their way as the Jets built a 20-13 lead with less than three minutes to play. At that point the Browns had 15 yards of total offense in the second half.
That’s when McCoy turned into the NFL quarterback that Browns fans have been waiting for since 1999.
McCoy took the team 59 yards in 10 plays, hitting Mohamed Massaquoi with a touchdown pass to tie the game with 44 seconds left. On the drive McCoy was five-of-nine for 58 yards, with a 17-yard completion to Ben Watson on third-and-1o and an 18-yard completion to Evan Moore on the next play.
“No. 12 [McCoy] is a special player,” cornerback Sheldon Brown told The Plain Dealer. “The poise is unreal for a rookie. I never saw anything like that for a rookie. The way the offense plays so hard for him. That whole drive, to see a rookie do that with calm [is unusual].”
Most notably, McCoy didn’t hit a wide receiver on the drive until the TD pass to Massaquoi. More on that in a bit.
After holding the Jets on the opening possession of OT, McCoy had the Browns driving for the win when Chansi Stuckey fumbled the ball away on the New York 32-yard-line. We can’t fault Stuckey as he was trying to make a play there.
After trading possessions throughout overtime, the Jets finally pulled out the win when Mark Sanchez hit Santonio Holmes on a short pass and Eric Wright and T.J. Ward stood around while Holmes ran 37 yards for the winning score.
This is a game that, in the past, the Browns would have lost going away. The Jets controlled the time of possession, especially in the second half, losing Cribbs took away a weapon on offense, and not having Brown in the secondary really showed as the Jets converted some key third downs to keep drives going.
We’re sure some will be critical of the Browns not accepting a tie (and Bud Shaw delivers) after Joe Haden intercepted a pass on the Browns three-yard-line with 1:35 left. The Browns could have tried to run out the clock and go home with a hard-fought tie, but why? The team is 3-5, you play to win and it was the right call there trying one last time to win the game.
“We can play with anybody and fight with anybody,” said Mangini in published reports. “We fight and deal with adversity well.”
Even though the Browns lost, we feel more so than ever the team is moving in the right direction. And Browns fans everywhere have Mike Holmgren to thank for that.
Because Holmgren “pulled rank” on draft day, the Browns have McCoy, who each week looks more and more like the quarterback of the future.
Because Holmgren convinced Tom Heckert to take over the role of GM, the Browns have a talented, credible talent evaluator.
Because Holmgren has brought order to the team, Eric Mangini is free to concentrate on coaching the team and we are seeing the payoff. The Browns are a hardworking group that gets the most out of their talent. They are a team that the fans can fall in love with.
As for McCoy, just think what he could do if he had some more weapons at his disposal.
While Peyton Hillis continues to deliver – 82 yards and another TD on Sunday – when he’s not in the game the defense has no reason to play the run, especially once Cribbs was injured.
Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie continue to be a complete void at the wide receiver position. While Massaquoi did pull in the tying TD, he only had one other catch while Robiskie posted his typical Blutarksi stat line – 0 catches for 0 yards.
If Montario Hardesty can get healthy next season – or the Browns can pick up someone who is – to give Hillis some support in the running game, and the Browns can bring in some NFL-caliber wide receivers, that can only help McCoy, who’s already shown he has the poise and savvy to play the position.
This one will hurt for a while, but we can temper the hurt by realizing that better days are ahead for the Browns.
Red Right 88 