Bleeding Brown and Orange

Most people believe that NFL football returned to Cleveland in 1999 with a blowout loss to the Steelers.  Tim Couch made his debut that September night.  I take a different stance and contend that only as of Sunday Cleveland has a true NFL team for the first time in 15 years.  The Browns dominated the best team in the NFL (record wise as least) from kickoff to final whistle, for 60 minutes.  It was a thing of beauty, true quality smashmouth football.

Colt McCoy and Peyton Hillis are well on their way to folk hero status and with good reason.  I cannot recall a rookie QB appearing so comfortable and in control on the field.  McCoy is the winningest signal caller in FBS history and every snap he takes betrays that fact.  He plays impassioned ball while keeping his wits about him.  His ability for improvisation, either by land or air, is ridiculous.  While the game speeds up on so many people, the action appears to slow to a crawl for Colt, facilitating nearly faultless decision making.  His gamesmanship is a pleasure to watch.  As is Hills' absolute refusal to go down.  At times this may work against him, given his history on injury.  If the Browns can coach just a mote of restraint into the man and keep him healthy, then the sky is the limit.  That being said, the most impressive play Hillis made was on a reception down the right sideline, an incredibly athletic play for someone of his build, heck for anyone.  Add to the mix Thomas, Steinbach, and Mack on the line, Evan Moore as a 3rd down tight-end and potential for elegant trick plays and the Brownies have the true makings of an offense. 

The defense is enigmatic.  It was difficult to pinpoint what was so different about the corps on Sunday, but the Pats looked out of sync all day.  Tom Brady was frustrated, the receivers never became involved and the D avoided big plays.  Notably Eric Wright had an excellent game for the first time this year and the resolve that Abe Elam (I learned his name!) showed prying the ball out just before the half was astonishing.  While the pass rush was by no means overwhelming, there was more than enough to throw Brady Bieber off of his game and piss him off to no end.  While the team does not have an immense amount of talent, they are becoming proficient at playing mistake free football, an excellent first step in building toward playoff contention.

The future looks bright and, as opposed to the 2002 or 2007 seasons, there seems to be a foundation in place.  Instead of acrimony amongst the ranks and headcases playing over their heads, strong fundamentals and team unity are the words of the day.  Congrats Browns.  We appreciate the hard work and the results.

Cheers.