In his first game against his former team, Kevin Stefanski did not coach timidly. (Cleveland Browns)
Browns defense wins the day in tough 14-7 win over Vikings
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Instant takeaways from Browns 14-7 win over Minnesota Vikings …
1. Stefanski victorious: All the hoopla about Kevin Stefanski’s return to Minnesota obscured the fact somebody else was coming back, too. Namely, Joe Woods. The Browns’ defensive coordinator had his side of the ball up for the challenge. Woods’ defense throttled the NFL’s No. 3 offense and the Browns offense rode Nick Chubb (100 yards rushing) and Kareem Hunt (69) to an incredibly hard-fought 14-7 win over Mike Zimmer’s Vikings in thunderous U.S. Bank Stadium. On a day Baker Mayfield was not sharp – but didn’t commit a turnover – the Browns’ points were scored on a Hunt TD run, a 2-point pass to Andy Janovich, and Chase McLaughlin field goals of 48 and 53 yards. Greedy Williams’ first career interception with 6:08 to play should have been the clincher. The Vikings got the ball back with 3:51 to go. But defensive tackles Malik McDowell and Malik Jackson swallowed up Kirk Cousins on fourth-and-3 from the Browns’ 33 with 1:19 to go to turn the ball over. The defense had to hold yet one more time, however. It sweated out a pass interference penalty on Troy Hill, and then forced a Cousins incompletion in the end zone on the game’s final play.
2. Played with fire, burnt: The Browns indefatigably kept playing Jedrick Wills through an ankle injury for three games. They may have gotten burned. Wills limped off with 4:42 to go in the third quarter. He was so mad he tossed his helmet towards the Browns’ bench. A few minutes later, he was carted to the locker room. In a surprise, rookie James Hudson replaced Wills, and not Blake Hance. Hudson had a costly false start a few plays later when Stefanski was preparing to go for a fourth-and-1 from the Vikings’ 42.
3. Quiet on the OBJ front: Odell Beckham Jr. had one catch for 3 yards on three targets in the first half. Mayfield wasn’t forcing anything to him, but an opportunity arose with 6:42 left in the third quarter. On third-and-7 from the 50, Mayfield wiggled out of pressure inside the pocket and Beckham broke behind cornerback Cameron Dantzler down the right sideline. Mayfield’s pass, though, was to Beckham’s outside shoulder and Beckham turned slightly inside.
4. Stefanski puts Zim in check: Hard to understate the drive the Browns put together at end of the first half. Down, 7-0, the Browns marched 64 yards in 18 plays, eating up 8 minutes, 39 seconds. Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb touched the ball on 15 of the 18 plays. After getting stopped at the Vikings’ 3, 3 and 2, a Minnesota holding penalty gave the Browns the ball at the 1. Then they were stopped at the 1 and 1 again until Hunt barrelled in for the touchdown. The PAT was good, but Stefanski accepted a Vikings encroachment penalty and took the point off the board to go for two. Zimmer’s defense was caught flat-footed on a Mayfield play-fake and he flipped easily to fullback Andy Janovich to take an 8-7 lead.
5. Wait, there’s more: With 1:12 to play and no timeouts, the Vikings came out throwing and were forced to punt in three plays. The Browns took over at their 36 with 45 seconds left and two timeouts. On third-and-20 from the 26 and the Browns content to exit the field with a simple handoff, Hunt ripped off a 33-yard run and still managed to step out of bounds and stop the clock with :27 left. A clothesline completion to Rashard Higgins moved the ball to Vikings 30 and four plays later Chase McLaughlin booted a 48-yard field goal for an 11-7 lead at halftime. Plus, by deferring the opening kickoff, the Browns got the ball first in the second half.
6. Change of script: At the start, it looked like expectations of a shootout would be realized. Both teams had good opening drives. The Vikings scored first, and the Browns failed on a fourth-and-4 from the 6 when Mayfield was ambushed by Everson Griffen (roasting Jedrick Wills) for a sack. On the previous play, Mayfield’s high fastball thrown across his body whistled through Hunt’s arms in the end zone. The rest of the half turned into a defensive slugfest. After that, defenses took over for both squads until the Browns’ two scoring drives at the end.
7. You want blitzes: Defensive coordinator Joe Woods called two blitzes that were successful in the first half. Safety John Johnson forced a Cousins hurried incompletion on a third down and Denzel Ward did the same with a QB hit on a blitz on first down. Ward also came up big when the Vikings advanced to the Browns’ 36-yard line. On third down, Ward defended a pass for Adam Thielen. Zimmer went for it on fourth-and-6, and Ward repeated with pass defensed againt Thielen.
8. Take a bow: Vikings slot receiver K.J. Osborn made one of the finest catches you’ll see, soaring above cornerback A.J. Green and snatching the ball from him while coming down with two feet right in front of the Browns’ bench. Stefanski challenged the play, but the acrobatic catch stood. Ward’s two passes defensed came a few plays later.
9. Nothing easy: Both quarterbacks came in with over 70 percent completion marks. But in the first half, Mayfield was held to 11 of 22 for 98 yards and Cousins was held to 9 of 15 for 84 yards. No turnovers by either team, though.
10. Pre-game notes: There were no surprises on the Browns’ inactive list. Left tackle Jedrick Wills and center JC Tretter were made active. For the Vikings, No. 1 pick Christian Darrisaw, an offensive tackle from Virginia Tech, was active for the first time all season, but he was used exclusively on special teams.
