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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
The lasting image of the 2020 Browns season didn’t even include them in the picture.
It was Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, alone with center Maurkice Pouncey on the Pittsburgh bench in Heinz Field, crying.
The keystone stalwarts of Steelers superiority over the Browns had combined on an airmailed shotgun snap and Browns touchdown on the AFC wild card game’s first play. How times were changing.
By the end of the 48-37 Browns romp, one orchestrated with Browns coach Kevin Stefanski and other coaches and key players watching from home because of Covid-19, Roethlisberger and Pouncey realized their run was over.
Dethroning Big Ben was the last franchise demon exorcised by the Browns in a remarkable season that cleansed the franchise and its fans from decades of ineptness, dysfunction and broken hearts.
Maybe the emotional toll of overcoming Covid setbacks in back-to-back wins over the Steelers – the first to end the NFL’s longest post-season drought at 18 seasons, the second to post the franchise’s first post-season win on the road since 1969 – finally caught up to the Browns.
But even in losing to defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City in the divisional playoff round, 22-17, the Browns displayed qualities that figure to carry them to even higher highs – resilience, confidence and determination.
An 11-5 season with a playoff win in Pittsburgh was a watershed for the franchise, the beginning of a new era. It was the year owner Jimmy Haslam found the right alignment in his organization; Stefanski emerged as a Mensa-like, game-changing coach; and Baker Mayfield erased doubts as a franchise quarterback.
Stefanski already has captured coach-of-the-year awards from the Pro Football Writers of America and The Sporting News. Four Browns were named to the Associated Press All-Pro first and second teams. More post-season honors will come. Like the Tony Awards.
The Tony Awards
The Lazarus Award: Baker Mayfield.
Left for dead after playing his worst NFL game in a 38-7 loss to Pittsburgh in Game 6, he turned it around and produced eight wins in the next 11 games, climaxing in back-to-backers against the Steelers, including the triumphant return to Heinz Field. Nationally, the narrative changed from “It’s time to panic!” to “It’s time to pay the man!”
Comeback Player of the Year: Myles Garrett.
He rehabbed the false image as a dirty player with a tremendous, personal foul-free season on the field and generous year off the field that earned him the team’s Walter Payton Man of the Year selection.
The Be Like Nick Award: Nick Chubb.
The ultimate exemplar of selflessness and sportsmanship, he rushed for 1,056 yards, a 5.6 average and 12 touchdowns in 12 games – never once even spiking the ball, trash-talking opponents, or complaining about sharing the backfield load.
Rookie of the Year: Jedrick Wills Jr.
His smooth conversion from right tackle to left tackle, supervised by line coach Bill Callahan, was imperative for the offense to click. His team-leading 11 penalties were a small price to play for a force-fed development that proved him a capable replacement for future Hall of Famer Joe Thomas.
Free Agent of the Year: Jack Conklin.
The extremely rare high-priced free agent who not only panned out but actually proved to be a bargain; he is the 13th-highest paid offensive tackle in 2021.
Most Improved Player: Wyatt Teller.
Initially considered merely a contender for the starting right guard position, another stab by former GM John Dorsey to address previous mistakes on the line, he developed under Callahan as a pulverizing road-grader with the mobility to pull and pancake defenders at the second level of a play.
The Comet Kohoutek Award: Michael Dunn.
His hyperbolic trajectory from anonymous AAF and XFL player to capable fill-in for Covid-stricken All-Pro left guard Joel Bitonio in the wild-card win in Pittsburgh was spectacular, but fleeting. A calf injury during the game ended his season and gave way to …
The That Guy Named Blake Award: Blake Hance.
Poached from the Jets practice squad after Game 16, he was rushed in when Dunn went down in the fourth quarter of the wild card game and despite being introduced to Mayfield literally just before kickoff.
The Whatever Happened To Award: Odell Beckham Jr.
Deposed in self-exile rehab after suffering a torn ACL during a Mayfield interception in Game 5, his absence spearheaded – or merely coincided with -- a stunning turnaround of Mayfield’s game, intensifying the complicated issue of whether the offense was more efficient without him. Sad but possibly true.
The Please Bring Him Back Award: Rashard Higgins.
He reaffirmed his uncanny chemistry with Mayfield by posting career highs in catches, yards and touchdowns. Not fast or physical, his 16.2 yards per catch attests to his organic rise as an invaluable piece of the offense and should result in a multi-year deal.
The Nip It In The Bud Award: Ronnie Harrison.
Five games after a September trade, he cracked the starting lineup and made immediate impact as a play-maker at strong safety, only to miss one game with a concussion and four with a shoulder injury. When healthy, he is the kind of hair-on-fire, physical defender needed badly for coordinator Joe Woods to fully implement his three-safety system.
The Most Indispensable Player Award: JC Tretter.
An old-school warrior in the middle of the offensive line, he answered the bell for Game 1 after missing all of camp following knee surgery, then never missed a play through 18 games while doubling as the NFLPA president and conscience of player safety and Covid protocols awareness.
The No More Mr. Nice Guy Award: Larry Ogunjobi.
The winner of the Cleveland media annual Good Guy Award, his post-season comments about looking forward to free agency follows an eerie trend: Six previous Browns left the team shortly after earning this award; four went on to appear in Super Bowls with new teams.
The Serendipity Award: Denzel Ward.
The only player left of 13 acquired through eight trades spawned by the Browns’ trade of the 2016 No. 2 overall pick that became Carson Wentz, the cornerback sealed the club’s first win over Wentz with an interception in a highlight game that included four passes defensed and one hit on the quarterback.
Play Of The Year: Mayfield 24-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Peoples-Jones, Game 7 v. Cincinnati.
This dime completed a 75-yard drive started with 1:06 to play and no timeouts. Peoples-Jones’ catch and toe tap in the right corner of the end zone was the final haymaker in a toe-to-toe slugfest with Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow that took back a 37-34 Browns win and lifted Mayfield up from the mat.
Take Your Breath Away Play: Odell Beckham Jr. 50-yard TD run, Game 4 v. Dallas.
After the Cowboys closed a 41-14 Browns lead to 41-38, Beckham escaped a tackle for loss on an end-around and made like a punt returner turning on the jets along the right sideline for the score that repelled Dak Prescott & Co. in an astonishing 49-38 scoring fest in Jerry’s World.
Bad Beat Of The Century: Game-ending safety, Game 13.
Arguably the NFL’s game-of-the-year, it turned painful for at least one gambler whose $40,000 bet on the Browns plus 4 ½ points against the Ravens was blown to smithereens when the Browns gave up a two-point safety after a completion, two laterals and two fumbles into the end zone, turning a 45-42 Baltimore victory into a 47-42 final score. Wowza.
Catchphrase Of The Year: ‘The Browns Is the Browns.’
Uttered by Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in an interview prior to the AFC wild card game, the putdown was the final piece of motivation in inspiring the Browns’ first playoff win on the road since 1969 and first win in Heinz Field since 2003. After the game, Smith-Schuster double-downed on the statement. He is a free agent and soon to be ex-Steeler while his words will take on new meaning in 2021 and beyond.