Last-minute item for Santa: An injury replacement kicker for Browns
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
HOUSTON, TX
Even in the aftermath of a rare laugher, for them, on the road against a winning team, which made a 10th victory with two to play, the Browns could not fully celebrate moving a step closer to the playoffs.
That’s because they are now looking for a replacement for surprise, all-world kicker Dustin Hopkins.
Hopkins suffered a hamstring injury chasing Dameon Pierce during a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown early in the second quarter of the Browns’ 36-22 win over the Houston Texans. He did not kick again and watched the Browns complete their rout without attempting another PAT or field goal.
Coach Kevin Stefanski would not speculate on the severity of the injury, other than to say Hopkins will have an MRI on Christmas morning. But the Browns’ front office immediately went to work Sunday night to locate a replacement for Hopkins because they play Thursday night against the New York Jets. Time is of the essence.
Matt Ammendola, who was cut by the Texans last week, is a possibility. Another is long-time specialist Robbie Gould, who recently announced his retirement after getting no feelers from NFL teams this season.
The Browns can formally clinch their playoff spot – and no less than the No. 5 AFC seed – with a win at home. And they will have to do it with a fill-in for the clutch kicker who has been hugely responsible for the team’s 10-5 record thus far.
“Typical of this season,” said a Browns official after a record-smashing passing day for Joe Flacco and Amari Cooper. “There’s a Joe Flacco [kicker] out there somewhere.”
That’s wishful thinking given that Flacco has been surreal since he joined the Browns a month ago after sitting at his home for 11 months wondering why nobody wanted him. Flacco wrote yet another chapter of his amazing comeback story with yet another dazzling display of passing – his finest yet. It keeps getting better.
Flacco hurled his third straight 300-yard passing game (27 of 42 for 358 yards) and second straight with three touchdowns, and won for the third game in a row.
Remember when the Browns’ passing game was among the league's worst? They had fewer TDs to wide receivers than any team for half the season. Yeah, that’s what it was before Flacco arrived like a winning lottery ticket floating from the sky.
A climate-controlled indoor game, the abject absence of a pass rush, and a slew of injuries to Houston’s very good defense set up Flacco for his best day yet. And the beneficiary was Amari Cooper, who produced a record day for himself and for the franchise.
Amari Cooper's record-smashing game added to the legend of Joe Flacco in another Browns win. (Cleveland Browns)
Cooper and Flacco teamed up for 265 yards and two touchdowns with 11 catches on 15 targets. The yardage total was not only Cooper’s personal best but also surpassed Josh Gordon’s Browns-record of 261 in 2013.
Cooper almost didn’t get the record because Stefanski pulled all his offensive and defensive playmakers with a 36-7 lead with 10:57 to go. Cooper was 10 yards shy of beating the record at that point. But Stefanski nervously reinserted his offensive and defensive starters when the Texans slapped together two touchdowns in the span of two minutes in the fourth quarter behind backup quarterback Davis Mills, who replaced forlorn, slop-throwing veteran Case Keenum.
On the sideline, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt became aware of the receiving record and he let Flacco know. Cooper received a pass for 13 yards with 3:49 to play to break Gordon’s record.
Cooper had been pining to get back in after he and the starters were pulled. Not because of the record; he had no idea about that. Truth is, he wanted a 300-yard receiving game.
“There was a lot of time left, a lot of food on the plate,” Cooper said. “I felt comfortable I could get to 300.”
Cooper and Flacco began the proceedings with a 53-yard connection on the first play from scrimmage. Cooper had to wait for it or else it would have been a 59-yard TD.
Cooper grabbed a TD of 75 yards and had 173 receiving yards in the first half. He added another score of 7 yards at the completion of a 19-play drive in the third quarter, which consisted of 13 Flacco passes and only six runs. Perhaps the finest moment of the Flacco-Cooper story occurred on that possession -- a fourth-down pass from Flacco after squirming away from a pass rush and throwing it up for Cooper down the left sideline. Cooper came down with the ball and toe-tapped inbounds for a remarkable play on both ends, good for 13 yards.
“That’s an incredible play by Joe, an incredible play by Amari,” said Stefanski.
Cooper has 22 receptions for 451 yards and three touchdowns in the last three games with Flacco delivering the ball. Remember all those hours of comments and analysis explaining the arduous process of developing chemistry with his receivers when Deshaun Watson was getting back into the swing of things?
“Some of that stuff is over-rated,” said Flacco, who is oblivious to what came before him this season. “When you have good football players, they know how to get open and you know how to throw them the ball. There is still some getting used to on little things. But overall, good receivers know how to get open.”
Cooper put it this way: “I would attribute most of it to Joe. He just has an incredible feel for the game, throws an incredible ball. The best way to explain it is we mesh well together.”
So now the Browns can punch their playoff ticket with a win against the Jets in their final home game. The AFC North title – and a home playoff game – is still alive, too, and would be even closer if Baltimore loses to San Francisco on Christmas night.
That’s out of the Browns’ control, of course. Stefanski, for one, is ecstatic to be able to reward the team’s fans with a playoff-clincher in their final regular-season home game on Thursday. It would be a nice Christmas gift for the long-suffering faithful of the Hundred Years War.
“I can't wait to get down there,” he said. “Our crowd is going to be unbelievable. We can earn it on Thursday. That's the story.”
