When you lose three games in a row in the NFL, there are no such things as ugly victories. So, we will not call the Browns 14-10 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars that.
However, Cleveland appeared to play a good game today, and still barely survived against a Jacksonville team that no one will mistaken for a playoff team.
Still, the Jags own victories over the Ravens and Titans, so you cannot take any win for granted.
The game was supposed to pit Maurice Jones-Drew against the porous run defense of the Browns, but Jones-Drew was held in check and the Jaguars had just 108 yards rushing as a team,compared to 148 for Cleveland.
Should we repeat that even in today’s pass happy NFL, if you can run the ball and stop your opponent from doing so, you have a good chance to pick up a victory?
Give kudos to Dick Jauron’s defense against the ground game, which made adjustments at halftime after MJD ran very effectively in the first half.
However, this game changed with 3:37 left in the third quarter with the score tied at 7. At this point, the Browns put together a, dare we say masterful, drive that culminated in a rare touchdown to give Cleveland a lead it would never relinquish.
And the drive came after a terrible interception in the red zone by QB Colt McCoy, in which he obviously did not see the Jacksonville defender.
Mixing the run and the pass, it took McCoy 12 plays to navigate 85 yards. He finished off the drive with a rollout 3-yard TD pass to Josh Cribbs, who got both feet down in the corner of the end zone. McCoy completed some short pass, ran for 15 yards himself, and got support in the running game from RB Chris Ogbonnaya, who had a career day with 115 yards in 21 carries.
More to the point, it looked like McCoy, who completed 17 of 24 for 199 yards, stopped playing like a robot, and started doing things instinctual. Perhaps that’s the best news of the day. Of course, it looked like Pat Shurmur allowed him to run things from the shotgun, where he is clearly more comfortable.
The Cleveland offense was effective enough today that Brad Maynard was forced to punt just three times, none in the second half.
And even though they used just one “gimmick” play, an end around to Cribbs, the play called was a little more imaginative. A downfield throw to WR Greg Little in the seam of a zone defense netted 19 yards, and a short throw to FB Owen Marecic in the red zone picked up 11 yards.
There needs to be more of that.
Even after the offense produced points, and missed three more on a questionable missed field goal by Phil Dawson, it still came down to the defense having to make plays when the Jags got the ball back on their own 29 with less than three minutes to go.
CB Sheldon Brown had a chance to put the game away, but he dropped an interception. Jacksonville had a fourth and one from the CLE 36, but DT Phil Taylor jumped offsides.
The Browns forced a 3rd and 10 from their own 29, but Joe Haden was called for pass interference to give the Jaguars a first down on the Browns’ 14.
In the end, the Jags had four plays inside the Cleveland 5 to try to steal a win, and after giving Jones-Drew the ball the first two times to get the ball to the 1 yard line, Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio decided not to get the ball to his team’s best player.
Instead, QB Blaine Gabbert threw two passes, the last one with LB D’Qwell Jackson draped all over WR Mike Thomas and the Browns had themselves a win.
Now comes the difficult part of the schedule with three straight division games, starting next week in Cincinnati. The offense needs to put more points on the board, not just move the football.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 