It’s Victory Monday and the Browns are 6-3. The Browns finally beat Texans QB Deshaun Watson and ended a five game losing streak to Houston. They did what they had to do, win a must win game. Head coach Kevin Stefanski learned from the Raiders game, when the weather is bad, run the ball. Both Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt finished with over 100 yards rushing. Chubb had 126 and Hunt had 104. The last time two Browns running backs had 100 yards in a game was 1966, Ernie Green and Leroy Kelly. Chubb leads all NFL running backs with a 6.1 yard average and he missed four games. You have to give credit to Stefanski, the Browns had about 60 yards rushing in the third quarter and finished with 231. He kept running the ball. While QB Baker Mayfield was only 12 of 20 for 132 yards, he made big throws when he had to. The 21 yarder to Rashard Higgins on third and eighteen comes to mind. Lets look at the positives.
On offense, the return of RB Nick Chubb and RG Wyatt Teller was just what this team needed. When they play, the Browns are 4-1 and when they don’t the Browns are 2-2. According to Pro Football Focus, Teller was the highest graded player on offense with a 96.4. That’s elite. The offensive line did a good job again, only allowing one sack and in the fourth quarter physically manhandled the Texans defense. They wore Houston down. What surprised me was there were no turnovers by either team. Glad to see the Browns protect the ball in that weather. On defense DE Myles Garrett was Myles Garrett. When he ran down Watson and pushed him out of bounds, he showed his speed. It looked like it really surprised Watson. DTs Sheldon Richardson and Larry Ogunjobi both had good games. The highest graded player on defense by PFF was safety Ronnie Harrison with a 77.6. He is currently graded as the fifth best safety in the NFL. He is becoming the third best defender on the team behind Garrett and CB Denzel Ward.
As for the negatives, I wish the tight ends were used more. Austin Hooper was the only tight end targeted with one catch for eleven yards. It ended up a catch for a first down, but in that weather, more tight end targets please. WR Jarvis Landry got a taunting call that killed a drive before it started and Mayfield stopped a drive with a bad intentional grounding call. On defense, I can’t stand the roughing the passer calls, but LB Mack Wilson obliged. These guys need to control their emotions. When Donovan Peoples-Jones bobbled the kickoff after Houston scored, I thought, oh great here we go again. Luckily he got bailed out by Hunt and Chubb. By the way, that was a smart unselfish move by Nick Chubb running out of bounds with 56 seconds in the game. The Texans had foolishly burned all their timeouts and no Browns fan wanted a replay of the end of the last Bengals game. The growth of this team and it’s head coach is amazing. He’s learning from his mistakes.
Next up for the Browns are the Eagles and the weather might again be a factor. Hell it is November in Cleveland. Currently the Browns are just out of the playoff race if the season ended today. As of today, there are nine teams in the AFC with six or more wins. Browns fans need to keep rooting against the Raiders and the Dolphins. Luckily they play each other on December 27 in Vegas. This weekend the Browns need the Titans to pull off an upset and beat the Ravens. As for the Colts they host Green Bay this weekend. The Browns will be favored to beat Philadelphia and should move to 7-3. With some help, they could be back in the playoff picture by this time next week. One game at a time Browns fans. Finally, it was announced today that another Browns player has tested positive for Covid, so hopefully it won’t be anyone important and whoever it is will be alright. Everyone stay safe and Go Browns.