Browns Closing In On Extra Football.

For the people who complain about the play calling of Browns’ head coach Kevin Stefanski, last Sunday’s win over Jacksonville should dampen the criticism in this area.

On the opening drive, the Browns went with the big package on a 3rd and 1 from the Jaguars’ 34, and the latest Cleveland QB, veteran Joe Flacco, went play action and hit a wide-open David Njoku for a touchdown.

Then, in the fourth quarter on a 4th and 3, Stefanski went for it and called a short pass to David Bell on an all out blitz. Bell was wide open and basically trotted the 41 yards to the end zone to give the Browns a 28-14 lead.

So, when fans complain about a bad play call by the head coach, please remember he called those plays too.

Seriously though, this was a big win for the Browns, who go to 8-5 on the season. First, they ended a two-game losing streak. Second, this weekend also saw the other teams that came into the week at 7-5 lose, as Indianapolis, Houston, and Pittsburgh all dropped to 7-6, so Cleveland is now the fifth seed in the AFC.

The Browns’ defense got back to stopping the run, allowing just 58 yards rushing, the first time they held their opponent under 100 yards since the Arizona game (41). They also forced a season high four turnovers (tied with the Colts’ game), winning the turnover battle for just the third time this year, all resulting in victories.

While it is weird that the Cleveland defense seems dominant at home, and kind of pedestrian on the road, it is that unit that is the driving force of the team, particularly with all of the injuries at quarterback this season. And it was great to see them swarming to the ball on Sunday, even with injuries of their own.

The Browns also had four sacks, and surprisingly none by Myles Garrett, and they put pressure on Trevor Lawrence all game long.

Don’t minimize the special teams either. Corey Bojorquez had some booming punts, including a 72-yard effort from his own end zone which flipped the field for the defense. And we were a little anxious about trying a 55-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, but Dustin Hopkins, who has made a league leading 31 kicks, banged it through to give the Browns a 10-point advantage.

The Cleveland running game hasn’t been as productive recently, with only one effort of more than 100 yards in the last four contests. On the other hand, the Browns did gain their most yards offensively since the win over Baltimore in week 10.

It was also their second-best effort in terms of yardage this year, with only the 408 yards gained in the week two loss to Pittsburgh having more. Really, although people want the Browns to run it, we really don’t care about the method of moving the football as long as it gets moved.

It would be nice to cut down on the turnovers though. Cleveland leads the league in losing the football with 27 and have had only one game without giving it up. They have had five games with at least three turnovers, and not surprisingly, they are 1-4 in those games.

So, when they turn it over two times or fewer, they are a robust 7-1. We know the coaching staff isn’t emphasizing giving the ball away, and for the most part, they aren’t coming on risky plays.

However, this has to change in making a run to the playoffs.

The next opponent, Chicago, is coming in after a big home win against the Lions. The Browns have to continue to take care of business at home. If they do, their season will not end in Cincinnati on the first Sunday of the new year.

Cavs’ Start To Season? Weird.

As we hit the quarter pole in the NBA season, and the much awaited in-season tournament championship game (sarcasm intended), we find the Cleveland Cavaliers a bit of a weird team.

Part of it is the injuries that have plagued J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad all season. Cleveland has just two players, newcomers Max Strus and Georges Niang, who have played all 22 games thus far and only Strus has started all of them.

The Cavs currently sit at 13-9 on the year, good enough to be 6th in the Eastern Conference standings, but they have also won 9 of their last 12 games, so they are trending in a positive direction.

The have already lost six home games in 2023-24, more than any other team in the East that is above .500, and their 7-3 road record is tied with Minnesota and Oklahoma City for the best in the NBA.

Among those seven wins are quality victories at New York (6-3 at home), Philadelphia (8-3), and Miami, always a tough place to win for Cleveland.

That mark will be put to the test starting Monday when the Cavaliers travel to Orlando and then Boston for a pair of contests Tuesday and Thursday. Those teams currently have the best records in the East.

Cleveland started the season trying to push the pace, as most teams say they want to do, but have slowed things down a bit, and this has allowed them to play better on the defensive end of the floor, which has been their calling card.

They are playing faster than last season, when they ranked last in pace, as they are currently 18th. Defensively, they have dropped from first last year, to 8th right now, probably due to the faster pace, but really, anything in the top ten is very respectable.

Koby Altman tried to improve the wine and gold’s long distance shooting from a year ago by bringing in Strus and Niang, but Cleveland has actually dropped in three-point shooting percentage from 36.7% to 34.8%. They have taken about the same number per game, right around 32 per contest.

Niang, in particular, was off to a dreadful start from long distance, but over his last 10 games has knocked down 21 of 48 from beyond the arc, a 43.8% clip more in line with his career mark of 40%.

Darius Garland’s numbers in this area are way below his norm, making just 32.5% from three, and his lifetime mark is over 38%.

Donovan Mitchell is also down from a year ago at 35.7% compared to a 38.6% mark in his first year in Cleveland. We would like to see Mitchell attack more, particularly late in games.

You have to figure both of them will get it going from outside and then we can see the offensive potential of this group.

We would still like to see Altman find another solid big man at or before the trading deadline. Tristan Thompson has been better than expected when he’s played, but we don’t know if he can perform that well on a nightly basis.

He has provided solid to very good defense and rebounding when he has played but has played more than 10 minutes in just nine games so far.

We would also like to see Bickerstaff find more minutes for Craig Porter Jr. The rookie usually does well when called upon, but at times, he seems to be forgotten by the coaching staff. If he can be a solid backup at guard, that will help the depth greatly.

There is an adage that the NBA season doesn’t start until Christmas, which is only two weeks away. Quite frankly, we felt this current stretch would be tough for the Cavs, but they won the first two.

The Eastern Conference is tougher this year with the emergence of Orlando and Indiana, so the season will be a challenge for the Cavaliers. Let’s hope their best basketball is ahead of them.

Guardians With Their Annual “We Can’t Spend” Talk

There are rites of spring concerning baseball and in Cleveland, there are the rites of winter, the time right around the sports’ winter meetings when the owners of the Guardians come out and give us the reasons they cannot spend money.

It used to be attendance. Ownership would tell fans they would like to spend more money on players, but the number of paying customers prohibited that. But last season, attendance jumped from 1.3 million in 2022 to 1.8 million. So, they had to invent a new reason.

Let’s keep in mind if Cleveland sold out every game, they could draw at most 2.8 million fans.

And the current financial issues with Bally Sports was chosen. Cleveland doesn’t know if it will be their local television money, an estimated $60 million, but if the contract is dissolved, Major League Baseball will step in and give the Guardians a percentage (reportedly between 70-80%) on what they would have been paid.

The Guardians’ ownership wants you to believe those are their only sources of income when they also receive money from baseball’s national broadcast package, and they are also a recipient of a share of the luxury tax payments from those teams that spend above the salary threshold.

So safe to say, the franchise has a lot of money coming in. At this time, we would also point out that the Guardians will save money on their new manager, Steven Vogt, who replaces the highest paid skipper in the big leagues in Terry Francona. And we would also bet with only three holdovers on the coaching staff, they will save money there.

Look, the organization may feel they are better off not paying a free agent(s) big money because they think they can get production from their prospects. That would be a strategy, and although it is probably a poor one, because most prospects do not become stars, at least the fan base would know they probably aren’t looking at contending in 2024.

Our problem is the way the organization handles this, it’s all they talk about. And as a longtime fan of the team, we are tired of hearing about it. No matter how they finish a season, when it comes to hot stove season, they make sure they tell the people who cover the team about their bleak financial situation.

No one is going to force the Dolan family to sell the team. They had David Blitzer buy into the franchise but frankly we haven’t seen any difference in the way the Guardians operate.

However, we will not buy (no pun intended) that the franchise isn’t a money maker for the Dolans. No one running a business loses money year after year without making changes or selling it.

What fans care about is the ownership giving the front office and manager the resources to win, and hopefully, it results in a world title. If the current owners don’t want to do that, it’s fine, but please, stop telling us what a challenge it is for you. No one is buying it.

And stop announcing that you are not going to increase payroll for any myriad of reasons. It’s like telling your partner you are going to cheat on them before you do it. Why? To prepare them for it?

Just stop talking about your finances. It’s done just to hear yourself justify why you aren’t trying to win. Yes, you will be happy if you do win, it’s just that unnecessary means will not be done to insure it.

We are sure next year will hold a different excuse.

One Big Turnover Spoils Browns LA Trip

The Joe Flacco experience looked good for the Browns for about three and a half quarters. He directed a touchdown drive on the first possession, and overall played well, completing 23 of 44 throws for 254 yards and two touchdowns.

Unfortunately, in the fourth quarter, he threw a critical interception on the first play of a drive where Cleveland could have taken the lead.

The Browns lost to the Los Angeles Rams 36-19 in a game that was very much in doubt midway through the fourth quarter and dropped to 7-5 on the season.

It might have been the most disappointing defensive effort of the season by Cleveland, allowing the second most total yards of the season as the Rams put up 399 yards (Indianapolis had 456), but unlike the Colts games, the defense had no sacks and no turnovers.

The defense simply had no answer for Puka Nacua and his speed. He accounted for 105 of the Rams’ 279 passing yards, 70 coming on a first quarter strike to put LA on top 10-7, and he also ran two jet sweeps to make up 34 of the Rams’ 120 yards on the ground.

He was the problem the defense had no answer for. Having the Browns’ fastest defensive back, Denzel Ward, on the field would have made a difference we think.

If Myles Garrett is the defensive unit’s best player, then Ward is a close second and having him out, and Garrett obviously limited due to his shoulder issue, it shouldn’t have been a surprise the defensive had perhaps its worst game of the year.

Cleveland also had trouble running the ball for the second straight week, although it wasn’t as notable as last week because Flacco was moving the football through the air. Kareem Hunt and Pierre Strong started to get it going in the second half, but overall, they had just 87 yards rushing.

Now, we need to point out they only tried 23 running plays. We feel Kevin Stefanski has done a great job navigating yardage with four different quarterbacks, but perhaps the Browns need to lean on their ground attack more often.

Because Sunday’s contest will be one of the last games Cleveland will play in nice weather (Houston is on the road), perhaps the offensive staff will go back to establishing the running attack.

Back to Flacco. We have advocated playing Dorian Thompson-Robinson over P.J. Walker in recent weeks, but we would stay with the veteran going forward. Why? Because he gives you professional play at the position. We understand he’s not mobile, but he can still deliver the ball on time and with accuracy.

If Stefanski and the coaching staff want to have a functional offense for the rest of the year, and you can’t continue to depend on the defense, then he needs to play Joe Flacco.

And hopefully, Garrett will be healthier next week, and Ward can return to the field. That would help the defense greatly. We were bothered that no one else stepped up to make a big play though. We thought there was more depth added.

We still aren’t concerned about the season. Cleveland simply needs to win the game they should win (Bears, Jets, Bengals) and they should return to the playoffs.

However, they need the defense to get healthy. And it would help if it were cold and windy for Jacksonville this coming Sunday.

Garland’s Play Is Becoming Cavs Problem

The Cleveland Cavaliers are going through a bit of a malaise to start the NBA season, highlighted by a terrible loss at home against Portland on Thursday night.

In that contest, they had a 16-point lead in the first half and wound up losing by 12 points to a team that has lost 12 of their first 18 games.

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff was upset after the game and rightly so, leading to conversation that his job could be in jeopardy. We have been critical of the coach, who has done a great job turning around a team that went 19-46 in the pandemic shortened season of 2019-20 (Bickerstaff was 5-6) and 22-50 in his first full season.

Bickerstaff set a defensive mindset with the wine and gold, but his substitution pattern has been questioned and his offensive sets seem to be very simplistic. The former could be a result of the roster construction which we will address later.

No one wants to have a hard conversation about this, but it is fair to ask if the backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland is working. Mitchell got the brunt of the criticism for the playoff loss because he is the team’s star and an all-NBA selection a year ago, but to us, Garland played worse in the first round series loss to New York.

Outside of the game two win and the third quarter in game four, Garland was pedestrian. Mitchell was still the leading scorer in the series at 23.2 points (down from 28.6 in the regular season), and shot 43.3% from the floor. He was way off from distance, making just 28.9% compared to his regular season number of 38.6%.

However, it was Mitchell who led the Cavs in assists in that series with 36 and had 19 turnovers. On the other hand, Garland shot 43.8% and had just 25 helpers with 18 turnovers. That type of carelessness with the basketball has carried over to this season.

This season, Garland has 88 assists and a whopping 64 turnovers in 15 games. The latter total is tied for the 7th highest total in the league, although all the players with more have played less games than the 14 Garland has participated in.

Also, all but Jayson Tatum, Stephen Curry, and rookie Victor Wembanyama have more assists.

Garland is too sloppy with the basketball, getting stripped a lot when he drives to the basket, and too often putting getting in positions where he has left his feet and has to make a difficult pass in a tight spot.

Add that to the defensive issues that come with having two starting guards who are both 6’1″, and you have to wonder if Cleveland can have long term success with Mitchell and Garland going forward.

There are several mitigating circumstances though. Our preference would be to put the ball in Mitchell’s hands and let him be the scorer/distributor, but you would have to get a long-term commitment from him, which would allow you to make a move with Garland.

Garland’s shooting has also dropped with season, dropping from 41% from beyond the arc last season to 33.3% this season. Along with several other Cavaliers, he has battled injury issues all season, but even his free throw shooting is down from his norms.

Koby Altman made a bold move getting Mitchell a year ago to give the team some star power, but that created the roster construction problem we discussed earlier, the smallish backcourt.

We wonder if Cleveland would be better off with a more traditional guard tandem with a #2 guard that is around 6’4″ or 6’5″, perhaps like Max Strus.

And Mitchell would have to change his game from being a scorer to a playmaker who can also score. It would make him a more well-rounded player.

Because Garland was drafted by the Cavs and has developed here, it seems like many fans are reluctant to be critical of him. On the other hand, Mitchell is the hired gun, and so it is okay to blame him when the team doesn’t play well.

Mobley Continues To Get Better, Don’t Overlook Him

Over the last 10-15 years, the perception of how good NBA players are has changed. Because of Stephen Curry, the three-point shot has become king, and it seems if a player cannot make the long-distance shot, they are overlooked.

Even if the player isn’t efficient from beyond the arc, he is viewed highly. For example, Curry is a career 42.8% shooter from three. Trae Young? Only shoots 35.8% from distance, that’s a big difference.

When Evan Mobley was drafted by the Cavaliers, many people wondered how great he could be when he developed a long-range shot. That hasn’t come yet, so we have heard people being disappointed in the progress of the third-year pro.

The reality is Mobley is developing just fine.

Over the last eight games, the former USC standout has shot 64% from the floor (56 of 88), grabbing 11.6 rebounds per night while scoring 16.6 points. Let’s not forget he is a good passer, averaging over three assists.

All that and he remains one of the best defensive players in the game, and overall, his rebounds are up almost two per game, from 9.0 to 10.9.

Although he’s not a threat from the three-point line (more on that later), he has improved his shooting in the mid-range, which is something we wanted to see before the season commenced.

From 10-16 feet, he has made 39.1% of his shots, up from 36.2 a year ago.

No, he’s not Chris Bosh, but that’s okay. And we would guess Mobley is going to continue to improve in all aspects of his game. After all, he’s still just 22-years-old.

Mobley is aware he’s not a good long-distance shooter, so he doesn’t take them. He’s attempted just nine this season (in 18 games), which is down from his first two seasons in which he took a little over one per game. That’s fine. As former Cleveland hitting coach Charlie Manuel once said, “know thyself”.

This isn’t a big deal to us. Yes, it would be nice if Mobley was a threat from outside, but our thought on this has always been, if you were defending a guy like Joel Embiid, a bruising inside player, or 7’4″ rookie Victor Wembanyama, wouldn’t you rather have them shooting 20-25 foot shots, rather than being around the basket?

We’ve alluded to it earlier, but we like Mobley having the ball in his hands to initiate offense. When team’s play zone against the Cavs, putting the big guy at the foul line with the ability to find the open man is a great weapon.

And he and Jarrett Allen have a great high/low game where they work for lobs.

It seems we have reduced the game of basketball to how people can shoot these days, when there is so much more to the sport: defense, rebounding, passing, being a good teammate.

Evan Mobley is very good in all of these areas and continues to get better. It’s a shame that because he isn’t out there drilling threes, folks overlook the rest of his skills.

The Cavs’ organization knows what a good player they have.

Just A Bad Day In Denver For Browns

Even though the NFL has become a passing league over the last 20 years, one thing remains constant, it is still difficult to win when you can’t run the ball and you can’t stop the run.

Last Sunday, the Browns couldn’t stop the run, allowing 169 yards on the ground, and they decided not to run that much, gaining just 107 on only 24 tries. The result was a 29-12 loss to Denver, dropping Cleveland’s record to 7-4.

It wasn’t coach Kevin Stefanski’s best play calling performance, as Denver came into the game with the league’s worst defense against the run, but Cleveland threw the football 42 times, although to be fair, after P.J. Walker replaced an injured Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the third quarter, he threw 13 times as the Browns were behind.

To be fair, at the time DTR left the game, the Browns were very much in it, trailing 17-12 late in the third quarter, and coming off a 13 play, 79 yard drive that ate up 6:24 off the clock. Right after he left came the play everyone is talking about.

Cleveland tried a reverse with the ball handed to Elijah Moore who was to pitch it to Pierre Strong running around the right side. It looked like Strong had a lot of room, but the pitch was mishandled, and Denver recovered on the Browns’ 20-yard line.

We point this out because fans love trick plays, except when they don’t work. How many times have you heard a team’s offense is vanilla, with no imagination. Our point is it looked like a good play call; the execution was just terrible.

As we said previously, it was not a banner day for the Cleveland defense. Denver gashed the run defense, as the Browns allowed the second most yards rushing in a game this season. It was the second straight week they allowed around 170 yards on the ground, and this time, there was no 74-yard run to skew the stats.

There were numerous runs of 10 yards or more, something for defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz to fix this week.

They did hold the Broncos to just 134 yards in the air, but mostly because they didn’t force Denver into many obvious passing situations. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah recorded the only sack on the day.

Let’s go back to the quarterback spot though. If Thompson-Robinson can’t go against the Rams this week, it very much looks like Joe Flacco will get the start. We would also go a step further and say Andrew Berry should be on the lookout for another QB to replace Walker, who is unplayable.

He fumbled twice in limited time against Denver, raising his total to four on the season. He simply isn’t consistent enough. He did make a beautiful throw to Moore for 28 yards but plays like that are few and far between.

The way Cleveland has gone through quarterbacks this year, we think you have to find someone else. Walker can’t play another down for a playoff contending team.

Besides the QB situation, the Myles Garrett medical report is key. If Garrett has to miss some time, it will force Schwartz to make some adjustments. We have full confidence he can, but missing a player like Garrett is never a good thing.

Attendance Was Up For Guardians, Now How About Payroll?

The Bally Sports situation is troubling for many baseball teams, we understand that. Losing the rights fee for organizations is definitely a loss of revenue.

However, let’s not forget that these ballclubs will be paid by some entity to televise their games in 2024. It may not be as much as Bally’s was paying, but there will be income coming in.

We also need to remember that nobody uses this time of news better than mid to small market Major League Baseball owners. We already have heard a few teams telling their fans they have to cut payroll due to this situation.

Recently, Guardians’ president Chris Antonetti said the organization let right-handed starting pitcher Cal Quantrill go because what he figured to get in arbitration didn’t fit in with the teams’ payroll structure.

To us, if you can’t spend $6 million on a serviceable starting pitcher, it raises an eyebrow. After all, Cleveland already had the second lowest payroll in the big leagues last season, ahead of only Oakland. (according to Baseballreference.com)

It’s also a good time to remind you that the Guardians had the fourth biggest gain in attendance in ’23, behind Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Baltimore. We know some folks will argue they were low-cost tickets that caused the spike, but we would argue the main thing is getting people in the park, remember, no team is selling concessions at cost.

This organization have always implied they couldn’t spend money on players because of dwindling attendance figures. So, attendance went up last year, and now it is the possibility of losing the television deal that won’t allow the Guardians to spend money on players.

We have always said we understand the Guardians can’t have a $200 million payroll, they certainly don’t generate the same type of revenue that teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Phillies can.

However, last season they outdrew Kansas City, who had a payroll $18 million higher than the Guards. Miami spent $114 million on players, and Cleveland outdrew them by 650,000 people.

The Brewers and Twins are similar market sizes, and both teams’ salaries for players were almost $140 million. By the way, Minnesota is saying they will have to cut payroll because of the local broadcast situation.

Now, one of the reasons Cleveland’s salaries are low is because they are the youngest team in the majors, so many of their players are on minimum contracts because they haven’t reached arbitration yet.

Don’t they have room to add some veterans who can help the team?

So, local television deal or not, the Guardians need to increase the amount they are spending on players for the 2024 season.

Let’s face it, coming off a 92 win season and a division title in 2023, last season was a disappointment. They have a new manager in Steven Vogt and should want to get him all the help he needs.

And you can’t forget the elephant in the room: 1948. The fans came out last season, now the front office should hold up their end of the bargain.

Nothing major, but how about not being in the bottom five in the league in payroll. We don’t think that’s too much to ask.

Our Likes And Dislikes So Far For The Cavs

After a bit of a slow start, the Cleveland Cavaliers have reeled off four victories in their last five games and in five of the last seven. They have now played 15 games and we feel that’s enough contests to see some trends, both good and bad.

First, the good.

Winning Despite Injuries. As we said, we are only 15 games into the 2023-24 season and only three Cavaliers have played every game: Evan Mobley, Max Strus, and Georges Niang. Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, and Jarrett Allen each missed five games, and Caris LeVert and missed three.

Those guys are four of the top six players on the roster, and the Cavs are 8-7 anyway. That is absolutely a good thing.

Max Strus. We weren’t as enthused as many about the signing of Strus because of his size and his defense, but he’s provided another playmaker, which wasn’t thought to be a big part of his game.

He is averaging a career high 3.9 assists per contest, almost two more than his previous season high. The same for his rebounding, where he is at 5.6 per game, his career high set last year was 3.2. Add in 37.7% shooting from three-point land, and he’s been better than expected so far.

The Rookie. We know many people thought the Cavs got a steal in second round pick Emoni Bates, but we thought he was very raw. The real story so far is undrafted free agent Craig Porter Jr.

Because of injuries, Porter has played in 10 games, averaging 8.0 points and 2.9 assists per night. He’s fearless driving to the basket and looks like he can be a contributor this season. It will be interesting to see how defenses approach him as he gets more playing time.

Now, the not so good

Turnovers. This isn’t a team wide problem; the wine and gold are 17th in the league in this department. It has been an issue for Darius Garland though. Garland cut down last year going from 3.6 per contest in his third year to 2.9 last season.

This year, he’s up to 4.5 compared to six assists, also down from 8.6 and 7.8 in the previous two seasons. He penetrates and is either stripped by a defender or throws a difficult pass to connect on far too often. A possession without a shot attempt is lost opportunity to score.

Make the basic play, and not the one that gets you on highlight reels.

Criticism of Mobley. We know everyone wants the third-year pro to develop into Kevin Garnett in his prime, but really, Mobley isn’t going to score more unless he gets more shots, and that is a challenge with two scoring guards in Mitchell and Garland.

The big man from USC has increased his shooting percentage (55.4% to 56.7%), rebounding (9.0 to 10.5), assists (2.8 to 3.1), and blocks (1.5 to 1.6) from a year ago.

So, he can’t shoot threes. Big deal, at least he knows he’s not a good three-point shooter hoisting them anyway. He’s only 22 and still getting better. Maybe get him more touches.

Free Agent Disappointments. After the big splashes of signing Strus and Niang, who is slowly hitting his shooting stride, Koby Altman signed two players we thought could help in Ty Jerome and Damian Jones.

The duo has combined to play 54 minutes to date. Jerome has had a severe ankle sprain, which is unfortunate, but on the other hand, the most games he’s appeared in a season is 48. Hopefully, he can contribute soon.

Jones has appeared in just nine games, making all three of his shots and grabbing seven rebounds. Obviously, J. B. Bickerstaff has no confidence in him, because the Cavs could use another serviceable big man in the rotation.

The biggest issue for the Cavaliers has been the injuries. That said, it’s more important to have everyone healthy in April and May.

Browns Stack Another Win With Another Gritty Performance

Before the Browns started this rugged pair of games, media people and fans were saying they were hoping for a split of the contests with the Ravens and Steelers. At the time, we felt that was the difference between the fan bases between Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

Those folks would not accept a split, they would want to take both games.

Fortunately, the players and coaching staff don’t think like the fans because they expected two victories and they got them, winning Sunday on the last second field goal by Dustin Hopkins to beat the Steelers, 13-10, and raise the Browns’ record to 7-3.

The Browns believe they can win every game they play, mostly because of their incredible defense, which outside of Jaylen Warren’s 74 yard run (we know, Butch Davis math), held Pittsburgh to 175 yards, 3 of 14 on third down conversions, and sacked Kenny Pickett three times.

And after a rough second half where Cleveland couldn’t move the football, rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson came alive with 1:18 remaining in the game, completing four of five throws to get the Browns into field goal range.

Overall, the rook went 24 of 43 for 165 yards, and he threw that much only because Cleveland’s vaunted running game was stymied after halftime. The Browns were held under 100 yards on the ground for only the third time this season, getting just 96 on 29 attempts.

Once again, the defense was dominant, forcing nine punts, and getting the ball back for DTR after Cleveland had to punt it away themselves with under two minutes to go.

They should have recorded safeties on Pittsburgh’s first two offensive plays, but because of the league officials’ reticence in calling the two point defensive score, neither were called. It was also the fourth game this season, Cleveland allowed less than 100 net yards passing.

In today’s NFL, that’s incredible.

It was the Browns’ fourth win by three points or less this season, but those wins are against San Francisco (7-3), Baltimore (7-3), Pittsburgh (6-4) and Indianapolis (5-5). They also have three victories by more than 20 points this season, the same as the Ravens and 49ers.

As a comparison, Kansas City has one, Miami has two, and Philadelphia, with the league’s best record, has none. So, it is not as though Cleveland is doing it with smoke and mirrors.

Apparently, the Browns will be signing veteran Joe Flacco as insurance for the rest of the season, but unless Thompson-Robinson starts to turn the ball over, our guess is he’s the starter going forward. Flacco is just there to provide professional quarterback play should something happen to DTR.

Kevin Stefanski wanted his rookie to take care of the football and for the most part, he did just that, and he put together a drive at the end to get the team in position for a game-winning field goal.

Why wouldn’t you keep him in there?

We have been a fan of the Browns for a long time, but this team has renewed our love for the team. This team plays with heart, they are physical, and they don’t make excuses. They treat each game as its own entity and views it as an opportunity to go 1-0 as their coach says.

After watching the opening win against Cincinnati and the way the defense played, we felt this team would be in every game.

It’s right there for the 2023 Cleveland Browns. They will look to go 1-0 next week at Denver.