Toth's Takes: Week 12

The will to conquer is the first condition of victory.

That is one of my favorite quotes, and applies perfectly to football. On the first Sunday in December, the Browns imposed their will against the Raiders, and won their second straight game, 20-17. The win was their first on the road since last September, breaking a 12 game road losing streak. It also marked their first winning streak since winning two in a row against the Colts and Dolphins last September as well.

For the second straight week, the Browns were the more physical team. They smacked around the Raiders, and are becoming heavyweight sluggers. I've been as critical of Pat Shurmur as anyone, but it is hard to argue with the fact that this team is starting to come together and playing extremely hard every week. Improvement is evident both from an individual standpoint as well as from a team standpoint. Weeden looks better. Richardson looks better. Josh Gordon, Greg Little, and Jordan Cameron all look better. Montario Hardesty is running with a purpose. And the defense is playing at a high level, noticeably better since Joe Haden and Phil Taylor, the team's last two defensive first round picks, in 2010 and 2011, have been back. Even guys like Tashaun Gipson and Eric Hagg and Juqua Parker contributed to the win. The Browns may be on the cusp of turning a corner, something I never thought I'd write about this season.

The Browns came out and dominated a Raiders team that they were expected to beat. Following a Raiders punt on their opening possession, the Browns moved the ball on their first possession before Weeden overthrew Watson for an interception. They allowed the Raiders to gain a couple first downs before getting the ball back and driving down the field for a field goal. They mixed in Richardson and used some short passes on the drive, and Weeden looked comfortable with the plan early. I honestly thought Shurmur had a good gameplan in this one.

They led 3-0, and after forcing the Raiders to go three and out on their next possession, Weeden found Little for 18 yards and then dropped a pretty pass into Gordon on a go route for a 44 yard touchdown. Gordon blew by the one on one coverage and looks more and more like an absolute steal in the supplemental draft. Browns led 10-0, and looked on their way to a easy win. This team doesn't do things the easy way, though. After the teams traded three and outs, they allowed the Raiders to move down the field and Janikowski banged home a 51 yard field goal. The Raiders appeared to catch the Browns off guard with a no huddle attack, but the Browns limited the damage.

Cleveland had a chance to add some more points, they got the ball back with about 4 and a half minutes left in the half, and moved the ball down the field before Weeden underthrew Josh Gordon, who again had gotten behind his man, and the pass was picked off. Weeden was pressured on the play and it appeared he couldn't get enough on the ball. Oakland moved the ball but Janikowski missed a 61 yarder at the end of the half. Somewhat frustrating, Browns dominated the game but only had a 7 point lead to show for it and only 10 on the scoreboard.

The Browns took the opening kick of the third quarter and did two things out of the ordinary. Following a couple of Richardson runs for a first down, Ben Watson was called for a holding penalty. Normally that would affect both team and coach, but they were able to gain 18 yards back and faced a 4th and 2 from the Oakland 42 yard line. And Shurmur actually went for it!! And they converted, gaining 21 yards after Weeden stepped up in the pocket and found a wide open Richardson. Shurmur showed faith in his team (finally) and the team answered the bell. That is a true sign of the progress we hear so much about. Predictably though, they did have to settle for a field goal by Dawson, his 29th in a row. 13-3 Browns.

The Raiders continued their no huddle attack and moved the ball down the field, before a Juqua Parker sack knocked them out of field goal range. Following the punt, Weeden hit Gordon for 20 yards and then stood in the face of the pass rush and hit Mohammed Massaquoi streaking across the middle of the field for a huge 54 yard gain aided by a GREAT block by Greg Little. Greg Little made it easy for people to criticize him early this season, but he had turned himself around and has been outstanding these last few games. He's a great blocker and hasn't dropped a pass in weeks. Kudos to him and the coaches for sticking with him when idiots like me were calling for him to get benched.

Following the big play, some of the problems with Shurmur reappeared. They had to burn a timeout immediately after the big gain, then appeared to play for a Dawson field goal, which was partially blocked. That ended his made field goal streak at 29, but that guy should have a place in the Browns ring of honor and should make the Pro Bowl. He's the best in the league.

Momentum shifted following the field goal block and it looked like the Browns may let another one get away. Palmer hit Rod Streater, who had broken away from Buster Skrine, for a 64 yard touchdown, making it 13-10. A bad decision to bring the ball out from the endline by Josh Cribbs had the Browns backed up at the 9 yard line, and following 2 tipped passes, the Browns called their second timeout. On a huge 3rd and 9 play Weeden again stared down the pressure and found Greg Little across the middle for a first down. That was a huge conversion, and gave the offense some room to operate. The drive stalled following a Weeden sack and the Browns had to punt. Buster Skrine gave Oakland 15 free yards on a kick catch interference and again, things looked dire.

Oakland used their no huddle attack to move the ball down the field before Palmer threw the ball directly to Sheldon Brown, who had good coverage on the play and made the interception at the 6 yard line. Sheldon Brown played an outstanding game, probably his best in years, at least since he's been a Brown.

Then, the Browns embarked on a grown up, man's game drive. 14 plays, 94 yards, 6:04 taken off the clock with Oakland burning all three of their timeouts in the process. They ran, threw, and took advantage of Oakland mistakes. They converted a 3rd and 3 on a pass to Gordon. They overcame a lousy spot on a quarterback sneak on a 3rd an 1. (Sidenote Coach Shurmur - if you're going to call timeout you may as well challenge the play, you lose the timeout if you don't win). On the 4th and 1 following that play, the Browns offensive line rewarded their coach's confidence in them by decimating the Raiders at the point of attack for an easy conversion on the Weeden sneak. They threw 23 yards to Cameron on the next play, ran the ball a couple times, and drew Oakland offsides on a 3rd and 1 before Richardson pounded the ball into the endzone for a 20-10 lead. The Raiders scored in garbage time to make the final score Browns 20, Raiders 17.

It was a big time drive for both the coaches and the players. It's important that the players know that the coaching staff trusts them to execute in tough situations, and important that the coaches know the players can do it. The Browns are learning how to win, as is Pat Shurmur. They've lost enough of these games that they needed that to know they can win them, too. I don't care who the opponent was. They need to win games, and they did. 2 in a row, with a chance to come home and get another one against the Chiefs, who have been generally awful all season. If the Browns maintain the will to conquer that they've had the past few games, they should be able to close the season out strong and possibly give new owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner some tough decisions to make regarding the futures of Heckert, Shurmur, and Weeden.

Gif of the Week

All Nebraska/Wisconsin this week

Taylor Martinez - horrible QB, hellava runner