The dates were September 26-29 of this year. That’s more than two months ago.
What is significant about those dates? It was the last time a Cleveland major league sports team won consecutive games, and it was the Indians.
However, right now, the Cleveland Browns have a two game winning streak, as they defeated the Oakland Raiders 20-17 on the road to raise their record to 4-8 for the season.
That doesn’t mean there weren’t any anxious moments along the way.
After taking a 13-3 lead with 9:51 remaining in the third quarter, and dominating the game, things took a turn when Phil Dawson had his attempt at a 30th straight made field goal blocked. Instead of taking a 16-3 advantage, the Browns had just a field goal lead after Carson Palmer hit Rod Streater for 64 yards a little over a minute later.
When the next Cleveland drive stalled, the Raiders were on the attack. Going without a huddle, Palmer started peppering the Browns’ secondary moving the ball down the field with ease.
Then the game turned back toward Pat Shurmur’s team when CB Sheldon Brown picked off a deep throw. It was the veteran second straight game with a pick.
Given new life, the offense moved in for the kill. QB Brandon Weeden hit his tight end often in moving the Browns 94 yards in 14 plays, chewing up over six minutes, climaxing with a Trent Richardson three yard run to put the game away.
Weeden hit Benjamin Watson with passes of 22 and 7 yards, and hit Jordan Cameron for 23 more yards on the drive.
And the Browns came home with their first road win since September of last season against the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts.
Until that last drive though, it looked like the offense was going to have another week where their seeming affection for the field goal was going to do them in. And once again, even in victory, the Browns did not score 21 points.
This was the 60th game that Shurmur has been the offensive coordinator or head coach and his teams have scored over 2o points just seven times. His offense doesn’t score enough in today’s NFL.
The offense gained 475 yards and punted the ball away only twice. The Raiders came into the game giving up points by the bushel full, but Cleveland only scored 20 today.
The Browns averaged 9.5 yards per pass play and a little over four yards per run. They could have scored almost 30 points the way they moved the football, but they didn’t.
To be fair, if Dawson hadn’t had his field goal partially blocked, Cleveland would have scored 23 points today. And Weeden threw two interceptions, both deep in Oakland territory, which stopped drive which should have resulted in points.
Still, how many times have you seen the attack go ultra conservative when they get close. Even on the last touchdown, the last four plays were all runs.
Weeden did throw for 364 yards, his third game of the season over the 300 yard mark, and had a touchdown throw of 44 yards to fellow rookie Josh Gordon, who caught six tosses for 116 yards. He’s looking more and more like a #1 receiver.
Watson also had a productive day, catching six throws for 80 yards, and Greg Little had four receptions for 48 yards and had a crushing block on a 54 yard catch and run by Mohammad Massaquoi.
Richardson (20 carries for 72 yards) and Montario Hardesty (5 rushes for 39 yards) ran the ball well.
It was mistakes by the quarterback and the conservative nature of the coaching staff that allowed this game to be close at all.
Take the second drive by the Browns which resulted in a Dawson field goal. Cleveland had a third and four from the OAK 21, and called a flat pass to Richardson, on which he was tackled for a loss.
It’s no problem getting the ball to Richardson, but why not throw a five yard pattern to get the first down. It’s clear Shurmur doesn’t have confidence in Weeden’s ball security, especially after he throws an interception.
Now the Browns come home to take on the 2-10 Chiefs, who won an emotional game against Carolina today after the tragedy of yesterday. It will be another game where Cleveland will be favored.
It’s a chance to win three in a row, and also to surpass last year’s victory total. For once, progress could be shown in the win column.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 