Post-game thoughts, 1st and 10:
1. Emerson deserves to own Joe Hayden's #23. Played one helluva game today. Young Man is establishing his name on this roster.
2. CLE always wins when #24 has 20+ carries. His 20th carry in this game is evidence. Game changer. *see my sig, yo-*
3. #95 changed this game with 2 clutch sacks, at the exact right time. He produced precisely when he needed to.
4. Elec. power to my neighborhood crashed at the start of 3Q. Power to our house was restored at the start of Q4. I missed nothing. (Browns- WTF?)
5. #7 is everything CLE wanted/needed him to be. If we don't pick him up for at least another year, some smart team will snatch him up to potentially compete as starter.
6. This season's w/l record doesn't accurately describe what this team is. They are better than their record says they are.
7. #85 has steadily improved his game, and has earned his place on this team as a go-to asset/weapon. That catch in the endzone for the game's tying score was his 'coming out' party. He really can be that good, folks.
8. #2 is a steal of an offseason acquisition. DAL's loss is CLE's gain. Cooper is a major asset.
9. This team doesn't quit like previous Browns squads have. Today, that fighting spirit paid off in a game that other CLE teams would have phoned in after that last Tom Brady score.
10. Games/wins like this are what help to establish team culture. The culture of losing becomes established when teams routinely allow themselves to lose games like this. The culture of winning is established when teams routinely find ways to win games like this. This team found a way to win a game that they routinely used to lose. That's a potential culture-changer.
This bunch gutted out a must-win when they needed to. It was beautiful to see.
Looking forward to seeing what they might do in the weeks to come.
11 games into the season, and I still have hope.
.02
I guess for the negativity, homerism has to even the scales.. Was a good game yesterday against an AVERAGE team.. lets not pretend this is prime Brady on the Pats, this is a very mediocre team and coached by a very underperforming HC. I agree with a few things, the Chubb thing always infuriated me when we didn't get him atleast 20 touches. Garrett def. finally showed up big and made a game changing play.. that should be the norm if you want to be considered elite.. Garrett def. put his money where his mouth was. Brissett was decent, He's still a backup in the NFL. People are quick to forget all the game sealing Ints he's thrown this year. But JB is a decent backup and I think the league sees him as that. Maybe a bridge starter like Miami and CLE used him for. #6- You are always what your record says you are.. our record says we are a poorly coached team that struggles to play consisten for 4 quarters, the next 6 will also show us what kind of team we are. Njoku has been good this year for sure, and that last catch was the best one he's made. I think he will be elevated more as will the rest of the WR when watson gets going. I agree about Cooper, best WR we've had since the return. His route running is second to none. This team does quit, as evidenced by the 7 losses, and the constant players only meeting and the infighting and the calling people out in the media. This team still has a ton to prove as does the coaching staff.. A win against a average team with a 500 year old QB doesn't change that. What we do these next games will be what determines the culture. Hopefully this win motivates and invigorates the team and they start rolling, playing Houston next week helps. We should beat them pretty easily and start getting that winning feeling. And lets slow the role on the Emerson/Haden talk. Haden was very good.. Emerson has been quite bad at times this year. He has the physical tools. Compared to the rest of the secondary this year he looks good but they've just been that bad. If you actually go back and watch he was always a step behind Evans but Brady couldn't throw an accurate ball to save his life yesterday. But whatever helps Emerson self-motivate himself.. Sometimes it take something like this to give the kid some confidence.
