The Cleveland Browns played to win today and shocked the defending Super Bowl champion Saints, 30-17 in New Orleans.
A tip of the cap goes to special teams coach Brad Seely and defensive coordinator Rob Ryan for putting together schemes that totally baffled the Saints.
The punt return team sent a message immediately that this football team did not want to go into its bye week at 1-6, by using an across the field lateral by Josh Cribbs to Eric Wright, who ran 62 yards to the New Orleans 19 yard line and set up a field goal to give Cleveland a 3-0 lead.
At the time, it seemed like a good way to make teams pay for ganging up on Cribbs, one of the league’s best return men. However, it was just the first trick dialed up by Seely.
In the second quarter, Seely obviously saw through films that the Saints left the middle wide open on punt coverage, so Reggie Hodges took advantage by running up the middle for 68 yards from the Browns’ 25 yard line. That set up another Phil Dawson field goal to give the Browns a 13-3 lead.
The most daring part of this play was that it came from deep in Cleveland territory. Had the gamble failed, New Orleans would have been set up for an easy score.
Meanwhile, the defense confused QB Drew Brees the entire game, most of the time by having no down pass rushers. Brees was picked off twice for touchdowns, both by LB David Bowens, and four times overall. He was also sacked three times. Former Saint LB Scott Fujita had one of each, a sack and a pick, which had to be very satisfying for him in his first game against the team he won a Super Bowl ring with. He was all over the field with 10 tackles overall.
It was a contest to throw the stats away, as the Saints out-gained the Browns, 394 to 210 yards, including 336 passing yards compared to Cleveland’s 85, and the had the ball for 36 minutes. But the Browns made all the big plays and that earned them the victory.
Rookie QB Colt McCoy didn’t have to do much today, but he didn’t make any mistakes, which was all the offense needed to do this day. McCoy hit on 9 of 16 passes for 74 yards, but didn’t throw an interception and was only sacked once. He did catch a 12 yard pass from Peyton Hillis to keep a drive alive in the fourth quarter with Cleveland holding a 20-3 lead.
Hillis, for his part, gained 69 yards on 16 attempts, making him the Browns’ leading rusher by one yard over Hodges. Brian Robiskie caught three passes for just 25 yards to be the leading receiver, although McCoy hit Ben Watson for an 18 yard catch in the second half on one of the few plays they threw the ball downfield.
One other long toss resulted in a pass interference call on Malcolm Jenkins against Josh Cribbs, which led to the team’s only offensive touchdown.
This was an enjoyable game to watch because the Browns pulled out all the stops, using gadgets and trick plays. You can’t use that many every week, but once a game wouldn’t be a bad thing to try.
This football team doesn’t have the talent of many of its opponents, so sometimes you have to trick the opposition. There is nothing wrong with that.
With the bye week upon us, it is likely that either Seneca Wallace and/or Jake Delhomme will be ready to start at quarterback in two weeks. Even if they are, it says here that McCoy should have the reins. He’s earned the chance to continue playing until he’s forcing plays and making crucial mistakes.
As long as he plays with poise, let McCoy play with Delhomme and Wallace to counsel him.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 