Kareem Hunt hurdles over Philadelphia's Jalen Mills for a five-yard fourth quarter touchdown run in Browns' 22-17 victory. (Ron Schwane/Associated Press)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
The Browns stiff-armed their way into second place in the AFC North by virtue of their hard-fought 22-17 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles under an unrelenting and intensifying rain. About 11,000 poncho-wearing diehards in FirstEnergy Stadium – limited, of course, by the 2020 pandemic – may have sworn the playoffs were never so close in their lifetime.
The Browns’ 7-3 record moved them a game ahead of the faltering Baltimore Ravens. Their second meeting comes on Dec. 14 in Cleveland. Pittsburgh improved to 10-0, and the Browns have their rematch with the Steelers in Cleveland on Jan. 3.
After suffering through multiple coaching and regime changes, a one-win season followed by a winless one, and then a huge letdown when things appeared to be turning around, one might think it’s been ages since the Browns were this close to the playoffs.
In fact, they were sitting one-half game out of first place with a 7-4 record in 2014, tied with two other rivals behind Cincinnati. Before the bottom dropped out and they lost their last five games.
But this team feels so much different.
When necessary, the Browns won without Nick Chubb and they won without Odell Beckham Jr. On Sunday, they cleared the highest hurdle and won without Myles Garrett.
On a rain-soaked field, defensive end Olivier Vernon led a defensive assault on Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz with three sacks, including one in the end zone for a safety.
With Garrett watching from home with Covid-19 and Tweeting his approval, the Browns sacked Wentz five times total, knocked him down at least five other times, intercepted him twice and forced a fumble to drop the -- yes, still first-place -- Eagles, to an embarrassing 3-6-1 record.
On a day linebacker Sione Takitaki was chosen by coach Kevin Stefanski to serve as game captain because of his toughness and physicality, Takitaki had a 50-yard Pick 6 to give the Browns the game’s first lead, so precious under the weather and field conditions.
And when the defensive front wasn’t hounding Wentz to pad his NFL turnover lead, cornerback Denzel Ward was.
Onrushing Ward hit Wentz from his open side as he threw the ball intercepted by Takitaki. He also limited Eagles leading receiver Travis Fulgham to one catch on seven targets and put the exclamation point on his day with an interception of his own of Wentz at the Browns’ 3-yard line at the two-minute warning. It came on the very next play after Ward had drawn a suspect pass interference call at the 10 against tight end Dallas Goedert.
“It meant a lot,” Ward said. “I felt that it was a terrible call, but it is all about just playing the next play. I felt that I did that on that play. Like I said, finding a way to help my team win and [I] was able to come away with the takeaway.”
It was a serendipitous day for Ward. He is the only active player left on the Browns from 13 acquired over three years as a result of the mega-deal in 2016 that hand-delivered Wentz to the Eagles with the second pick in that draft.
On this day, Wentz continued to play like a quarterback on an amazing decline. His pocket presence and awareness of the Browns’ defense were non-existent. Wentz’s second touchdown pass of the day with 30 seconds left made the final score close, but the fact is the Browns tucked away this game earlier in the fourth quarter when their one-two running punch of Chubb and Kareem Hunt pile-drived the Eagles on two plays.
The Browns were up by only 12-10, as the Eagles’ defense had smothered Chubb (47 yards on 16 attempts) and Hunt (minus-7 yards on 5 attempts) through three quarters.
“We were searching for the right personnel group and searching for the right scheme versus them,” Stefanski said. “That is a good run team. They played downhill until they were gassed. We knew it was not going to be easy. They come off the ball so we kind of were poking around looking for the right run scheme for our guys. I think we kind of unlocked it a little bit there at the end and were able to get again some hard yards.”
What happened was Chubb posterized practice squad defensive end Joe Ostman from Central Michigan making his NFL debut.
Chubb blasted through a hole on the left side and then stiff-armed the 259-pound Ostman to the ground four yards past the line of scrimmage. Chubb hits his customary breakaway gear and galloped 59 yards to the Eagles' 7.
Two plays later, Hunt ran around right tackle and leaped over safety Jalen Mills at the right pylon for a 5-yard touchdown.
One. Two. Punch. And knockout.
That made it 19-10 – way too steep a hill for Wentz to climb on a rainy day.
“If we can get that lead in the fourth, then we can throw Nick out there and throw Kareem out there, and it is a really good one-two punch that is hard to defend,” Stefanski said.
It’s a weather-tested formula.
Baker Mayfield had his third straight game without a touchdown pass (12 of 22, 204 yards) but protected the ball much better than Wentz. Mayfield’s streak without a turnover ended at two games as he lost a fumble on a sack. But that’s all he had to do as Chubb (114 yards, 20 attempts) plowed through the elements for his second consecutive 100-yard game since returning from a knee injury.
“We like to say that we are a resilient team,” Chubb said. “I think that is showing now playing in these weathers and these conditions. I’m looking forward to going to Florida next week to get some sunshine.”
The Browns play the 1-9 Jaguars Sunday in Jacksonville, their first game in a month away from their friendly, if frigid, confines.
“I guess it’s working for me right now. I probably shouldn’t want to change something, but maybe it would be better in nicer weather. Who knows?” Chubb said.
Yes, it’s looking like there is light up ahead of this Browns’ season. Perhaps even sunshine. One thing is for sure. Unlike 2014, it’s not an oncoming train.