The Cleveland Browns headed to Oakland on Sunday with many of their fans and the rest of the NFL questioning whether or not they have what it takes to actually finish a game when given the opportunity.
With 9:31 left in the game and holding a three-point lead, the Browns huddled on their own six-yard line with opportunity – and the Raiders defense – staring them in the face.
Quarterback Brandon Weeden shrug off what had been, up to that point, a rather unspectacular day to drive the Browns 94 yards in 14 plays, leading the Browns to a touchdown drive and effectively sealing the win.
Weeden completed five-of-six passes on the drive, which was capped off by Trent Richardson’s three-yard touchdown run.
“Up to this point, it was probably the biggest drive of the year,” Weeden said. “You look back at the way things were going. Our defense played great all day. They made a great catch for a touchdown and we felt like we got down there a couple times and weren’t able to capitalize. We felt we needed to do our part and rebound and drive down the field. We strung together some good plays and Trent was able to cap it off.
“We strung together a lot of really good plays and that shows the potential we have as an offense and that’s encouraging. We have a lot of guys making plays. Ben (Watson) made a big play. Jordan (Cameron) made a big play. Trent made a big play. We had several guys who were stepping up and making plays. That’s encouraging.”
The win snapped a 12-game losing streak on the road for the Browns and gives them a winning streak (although a modest two-game one) for the first time since they won consecutive games against Indianapolis and Miami in Weeks 2 and 3 of last season.
“This was a good opportunity to go out and beat a good football team on the road,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said. “It was a great opportunity to put two wins together and then, I asked them to let it all go, just release it all, let it all go, play hard and we’ve got a lot of exhausted guys that did that.
“My focus was for us to come and win a game on the road, in this case, a conference game. I think that’s what’s most important. You don’t want streaks like that and let’s face it, over the last three years, we haven’t done a great job of winning games. As we take this journey with this young football team, they’re starting to learn.”
And in the process, we may have seen a young Browns team learn what it takes to win a game.
“It’s probably the defining drive of the season,” said cornerback Sheldon Brown, whose interception of an underthrown Carson Palmer pass gave the Browns the ball to start the drive. “I think we had an opportunity to see the character of that offense. Coach wanted to go for it on fourth down and those guys believed in one another and they executed. I think it was a defining moment in a lot of those young guys’ careers on that side of the ball. We’ll see throughout the rest of the season, but I think that was a big drive.”
Up until that final drive things were starting to look a bit dodgy for the Browns, who built a 13-3 third-quarter lead thanks to a pair of Phil Dawson field goals (what would a Browns game be without those?) and a 44-yard touchdown pass from Weeden to wide receiver Josh Gordon, who had the first 100-yard game of his career, finishing with six receptions for 116 yards.
“I’ve got so much confidence in (Josh) and when you get him in space, get him in one-on-one matchups, I really like the matchup,” Weeden said. “He’s such a big-body guy with great hands and there was one I missed in the middle of the field that got batted at the line of scrimmage that he might have scored on. He’s come a long way. He’s made strides throughout this year that I’ve never seen a player in any sport make so fast.”
But the Raiders would toughen up and, after Palmer hit Rod Streater for a 64-yard touchdown pass near the end of the third quarter, Oakland was back in the game at 13-10.
Things took a turn for the worse on the ensuing drive as the Browns started on their own nine-yard line thanks to a dubious decision by Josh Cribbs to bring the kickoff out of the end zone despite being nine-yards deep.
Weeden’s first two passes of the series were knocked down and the cries of “here we go again” were echoing across Northeast Ohio. The Browns would eventually pick up a couple of first downs but would be forced to punt, setting up the Raiders for a potential go-ahead drive.
Working out of the no huddle (an advanced offensive concept that has yet to make its way to Cleveland), Palmer quickly moved the Raiders to the Cleveland 33-yard line. But on first-and-10, Palmer underthrew Juron Criner on a deep pass down the left side and Brown made the interception to set up the offensive’s game-sealing drive.
“Carson threw a few deep balls at me today,” Brown said. “I’ll have to talk to him and see what he saw on the tape last week when he was preparing. On that particular play, I had the opportunity to cover the short field. I lined up in press like I was going to stay down tight. Criner released outside, I bailed out of there and, at that point, I saw Carson throwing the ball. I became the receiver and caught it.”
So what to make of the Browns coming out on top in a battle between two three-win teams?
Since starting the season at 0-5, the Browns have gone 4-3; not great, but not bad for these parts. And after seeing Charlie Batch go to Baltimore and beat the Ravens, the win against the Steelers starts to gain a bit more legitimacy.
With the home portion of the schedule coming up the next two weeks with games against Kansas City and Washington, the Browns have a real chance to build their first winning streak since the four-game streak built on smoke and mirrors at the end of the 2009 season.
So has this Browns team finally started to turn the corner?
“It’s very important, but it’s just two games,” Richardson said. “We’ve still got a long way to go. We could still creep back up in there and still finish the season strong at 8-8. It means you’ve got to keep fighting. We’re trying to get there.
“We lost a lot this year. That’s something you try to conquer, not losing and to be a part of that when you’re losing, you’re trying to do everything to get back to fighting and overcoming, especially losing in the last two minutes.”
But what does it really mean in the big-picture kind of way?
The Browns still don’t have a “signature win” under Shurmur, even as the Steeler game is starting to grow in over-importance. They also scored 20 or fewer points for the sixth consecutive game – and this week were playing an Oakland team that had given up an average of 42 points per game over its last four games.
Weeden continues to look like a rookie, sure, but he’s also not really looking like a quarterback who is getting any better. He was intercepted twice on Sunday, made a couple of bad throws that could have led to additional turnovers, and is still struggling with his accuracy.
He overcame that, which is what you want to see in a quarterback, but his continued struggles still raise questions going into the off-season.
Fans are slow to embrace the concept that this team is slowly getting things turned around because they have been burned before by false hope. Many still remember that the four-game winning streak to the end the 2009 season turned into a 1-5 start to the 2010 season.
If the Browns can carry this through to the end of the season, if the players can carry over the momentum into next season, and if owner James Haslam and CEO Joe Banner make the correct moves in the off-season, then maybe fans can start to believe in this team.
Until then, it’s time to take care of business against the Chiefs and push the winning streak to three games.
“It’s the beginning of nothing if you don’t win next week,” Brown said. “The important thing is move onto the next week. This game is over and done with. Kansas City is going to be fired up coming into our place. I think they have a couple Browns there, waiting to come back. I think we need to be focused and ready to play that game.”
(Photo by The Associated Press)