Written by Mitch Cyrus

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Browns win.  Steelers and Ravens get embarrased.  That's what Mitch calls a pretty good football weekend.  In this week's Random Thoughts, Mitch looks at two key points in last weeks game that have really gone overlooked.  The goal line stand in the first quarter ... and the 80 yard drive late in the second quarter that put the Browns up 7-0.  Mitch also has a lot of love for Jamal this week, saying he is the perfect style of back to lead us into three outdoor December football games to finish up the schedule.

What a weekend!  The Browns win, and both the Squealers and Ratbirds are humiliated on the same day. 

As much as my wife dislikes Tom Brady and the Pats, I couldn't pull against them.  In particular, I wanted Belichick's crew to put the hammer down on the Inbreds and beat them by more than they beat the Browns.  Mission accomplished. 

Then we had the Colts/Ravens game.  I found it the highest point in hypocrisy that the people of Baltimore are still so aghast about what Tiger Bob Irsay did on that snowy morning in 1983, that they won't even put the word "Colts" on the scoreboard, using "Indy" instead.  Yeah...the whole world feels sorry for what Irsay did to you and your hatred of Indianapolis, while ignoring the fact that 99% of the denizens of Kosovo-on-the-Chesapeake had no problem doing the same thing to Cleveland. 

I thought it couldn't get any better than seeing Rayventhal Lewis and his gang melting down like Amy Winehouse at the end of the Patriots game.  I was wrong.  Seeing them roll over and die against the Horseshoes in their own house was priceless. 

And this week?  They might just be the only team this year to lose to the Dolphins. 

Hell, no.  I'll never get over it.

The Defense Set the Tone that Won the Game 

End of the first quarter, and Anderson has another one of his traditional first quarter brain farts, throwing a stupid interception, which is returned down to the Browns' 11.  Five plays later, Kellen Clemens gets it down to the six inch line, first and goal. 

Great...here we go again, down to an inferior opponent right off the bat due to a stupid turnover.  Looks like I picked the wrong week to give up sniffing glue. 

But then something amazing happens.  Robaire Smith and Leon Williams stone Thomas Jones for no gain. 

Second and goal; and Robaire again drops Jones, this time for a two yard loss with the help of Brodney Pool. 

Third and goal; Clemens gets pressured and forces an ill advised pass that Sean Jones gathers in just inches above the ground. 

DENIED!!!! 

I'm starring slack-jawed at the TV, rubbing my eyes in total disbelief.  Buster Douglas's beatdown of Mike Tyson was less of a surprise than this. 

But I'll take it, as this stand set the mental tone of the game, and gave the spark needed for the victory. 

All in all, the defense stepped it up quite well in the game.  After all, they only allowed one touchdown to a team that put 40 up on the board last week.  OK...it was against the Dolphins, but being that the Browns defense is like Paris Hilton in regards to Everyone Scores!, I'll take it.

One of the Best Drives of the Year 

Two drives after the INT, the Browns started on their own 20 and commenced with one of the prettiest drives I have seen out of them since a certain #19 was on the field.  You couldn't have known that from how it started...a five yard gain from Jamal, a delay of game penalty on DA, and then an incomplete pass.  However, on third and 10, Anderson finds Winslow for 18 yards with a perfect strike. 

On the very next play, Cribbs runs a great route, leaps for the pass, and holds on despite nearly having his spleen removed by Kerry Rhodes.  (Subtle hint for Chud: GET CRIBBS ON THE FIELD MORE OFTEN!!!!!) 

Fourth and four on the 40, and Romeo grows a pair and decides to go for it.  Chud wisely ignored the typical 4^th down call of a slant pattern, since DA throws those with all the finesse as Lennie petting a mouse, instead throwing a pass 10 times more difficult, a 14 yard out pattern to Braylon Edwards, who had a step on Darrelle Revis, a man beaten more often than the Washington Generals.  Challenge denied, as another Belichick disciple proves to be worthless with the Red Flag. 

Next play, DA finds Steve Heiden for 19 yards.  No, that is not a typo, but I did have to rewind the DVR several times before I actually believed it myself.  I thought the rule was that Heiden could only be thrown to one time in a game, and it had to be for two yards or less?  In any case, my favorite quasi-offensive lineman made a great catch setting up first and goal. 

"Wonderful.  Time to look forward to two runs up the middle from the seven, followed by a pass out of the end zone and a Dawson sighting," I grouse. 

Chud laughs at my grouse (so does my wife, but that's a different story), faking the handoff up the middle to Vickers, rolling DA right, where he tosses a soft pass to Jamal, more open than Pee Wee Herman's fly in a movie theater. 

10 plays, 80 yards.  To me, the best part of it was the fact that Anderson hit FIVE different receivers on the drive...truly a step forward in his progression as a QB. 

The only bad part about it was that they left 1:23 on the clock, allowing the Jets to march down and get a field goal when Grantham went into his patented Sieve Defense®

An Ugly Win Is Good VS They Need to Learn to Put Teams Away 

Both of these statements are true.  You look at the boards, and you see a very lively argument from the Pollyannas talking about how the Browns have lost ugly (see also; Cardinals, Arizona and Raiders, Oakland), so it's a positive step when they prove they can win ugly games as well. 

Considering the weather...and the idiotic Jets fans at Gate D who still hassle women to show off their...um...chests (in a cold rain, no less), it was going to be ugly no matter what.  So winning this game in bad conditions against an inferior team is a good sign.  Look at it this way; the Squealers lost to this same Jets team in the Meadowlands. 

However, the doom-and-gloomers on the boards whining about the Browns' failure to put a team away when they had a chance also have a point.   The Browns allow teams to hang around too often with them...that is, when they don't allow them to run off to 14+ point leads right out of the gate.  This is certainly a part of being a very young team, but if the Browns expect to make it to the playoffs, show some respectability in them, and then build on it for next year, they have to develop a better Killer's Instinct. 

Maybe they can hire Tom Brady and Bill Belichick for a couple days of "Stepping On Peoples' Throats for Fun and Profit" seminars.

Onside Kicks!!!! 

The lack of the ability to crush the Jets' collective larynx led to the Xanax inducing conclusion in which we got to see FOUR onside kicks in a single game. 

This was brought about by Eric Mangini's desire to see Mike Nugent meet an obscure performance clause by being involved in 50% of the Jets plays in the fourth quarter.  Field Goals, Onside Kicks, and Ulcers! Oh, My! 

But as far as Mangini going for FGs,   I actually agree with the play calls, as their young QB had shown that he was having problems when the Browns provided pressure, to say nothing of the sloppy weather conditions. That made the possibility of completing a 10 yard pass on 4^th down from the 20 rather low (assuming Grantham would have kept up the pressure...odds that I'm sure Leadpipe wouldn't touch). 

The FG attempt on first down with 35 seconds left made even more sense...the Jets were about out of time, and needed two scores, which meant both a FG and a TD, and a successful onside kick between them.  It made more sense for me to score the three and have 32 seconds left to try a Hail Mary than to take a couple of shots to the endzone for a TD, and even if getting one, only having 10 seconds left after another onside kick.

The Run That We'll See In Highlight Films Forever 

That 31 yard touchdown run from Jamal was a thing of beauty.  Need 4 yards to put things away?  Pshaw!  I mock your measly four yards, and prefer to run over the entire Jet defense, along with a couple of refs, an assistant coach, and Joe Namath, who was still roaming the sidelines looking for Suzy Kolber. 

I just never get tired of seeing that replay.  And for those of you saying that Jamal should have just fallen on the ground after getting the first down, allowing the clock to be run out, I say that you are wrong.  Not in the logic of the argument, because it probably would have been better if he had been tackled at the 10.  One last time out from NY...a couple of kneel downs, and game over. 

But I don't want my bruising running back thinking about that.  Hell, I don't want him thinking at all if it can be avoided...but certainly not about going down in the middle of the field.  Jamal fought and fought for that TD, and the determination and grit he showed proves that he indeed has more than fumes left in the gas tank. 

A rugged power back pounding into the line during MEANINGFUL games in December?  Yeah...I can live with that.  With the next two home games against Buffalo and San Francisco with the game at Cincitucky sandwiched in between, the Browns need Jamal doing exactly what he's been doing the last few weeks.

Blurbs From an ADHD Mind 

~~ Dick Enberg:  Oh, My!  Please Retire! (and take John Madden with you). 

~~ Prior to the MNF game, Bill Parcels came out and said that Reggie Bush was really no different than an "Eric Metcalf".  Dammit, Bill!  I want my credit from you since you obviously read my comments on that subject back after the Patriots Game. 

~~ We actually had a Jerome Harrison sighting!  Let's see...every time he gets a chance to play, he produces.  So who is the IDIOT that keeps putting him on the Travis Wilson Memorial Inactive List (now in its 13^th hit week)?  Whoever makes the decision that Harrison should be inactive so that Tim Carter, Kenny Wright, or Darryl Dinkins can suit up needs to be thrown into a cage with Michael Vick's dogs. 

~~ Think the revelation today from Mangini that the Jets taped the Patriots last year might just fire up the Patsies even more than before?  I'm thinking Ohio State vs Kent State may have been closer than this game will be.

~~ The Detroit Lions are the new Cleveland Browns.  Although, the way they are fading, they remind me more of the 2005 Cleveland Indians. 

~~ I had the sad task to watch the Panthers/Jaguars game prior to the kickoff of the Browns' game.  Watching Vinny Testeverde now is about as painful as watching that Peter Frampton Geico commercial.  A little mercy killing, please? 

~~ How happy do you think those Dolphins fans are now with Cameron selecting Ted Ginn in the first round, convinced that 39 year old rookie John Beck would be a "better" QB?  Seriously; how bad do you have to be to lose your job to Cleo Lemon? 

~~ I get the feeling that Brian Brohm has cancelled his engraved invitation to Atlanta as the Falcon's next starting QB.  Another classy move by another college coach who finds he's in over his head in the NFL, and runs quickly back to college (and the SEC) with his tail tucked between his legs.  As least Bobby Petrino wasn't as big of a liar about it as was Nick Saban.  At least he didn't walk off with as much unearned money as a certain person now coaching at North Carolina did.