Congratulations Pat Shurmur. You've done something I never thought possible. On December 9th, 2012 you coached an almost perfect game. You led your team to a 30-7 victory over the Chiefs for their third victory in a row. Your gameplan was outstanding. You used creativity on offense and special teams. You put the ball in the hands of your best playmakers. You showed confidence in your players. And you made me believe that maybe you should be the one to lead this team next season.
Like this young team, Shurmur has gotten better. Winning makes everything better, but Shurmur genuinely seems more at ease now that the Browns have been able to string together some wins. The Browns looked like they were having fun playing football today. I've been as big a critic as anyone, but I will give credit where credit is due. After the Dallas game this team could have packed it in. They could have laid down against the Steelers, especially after falling behind early. They could have gone out to Oakland and laid an egg on the west coast following the win against the Steelers. They could have come home and disappointed the home crowd against the Chiefs, and lost a game that everyone thought they were going to win. And trust me, they could have. I've seen it before. But they didn't. And forget about the competition, it's hard to win in the NFL, especially if you don't know how. And for the first 10 games this season, this team didn't look like it knew how to win. But they're learning now, both coach and team. Maybe this is a shortsighted reaction to a few wins against lesser competition. Maybe the Browns will come out and get pasted by the Redskins next week, and I'll kick myself for even thinking this. But maybe, just maybe, Shurmur is the right coach for this team. He has three more games, against better teams than the Chiefs and Raiders, to state his case.
But just think about this. If LJ Fort catches the easy interception that Michael Vick lobbed into the endzone in week 1, and the Browns win that game, they would be 1 game behind the Steelers for the final playoff position. Taking every bad coaching decision, dropped pass, clock management issue, every third and one, EVERYTHING out of the equation, the Browns are one easy interception away from being in the thick of the playoff race.
The Chiefs were coming off an incredibly emotional week, and seemed due for a letdown after a gutsy win the previous week against Carolina. And it only took 1 play for them to take the lead, on an 80 yard touchdown run by Jamaal Charles. The Browns punted on their first possession, and the Chiefs used a blatant push off by Dwayne Bowe against Joe Haden on a 47 yard pass to move down the field. However they missed a chip shot field goal that went off the uprights. And that pretty much highlights the Chiefs offense. The Browns added a field goal, and after forcing the Chiefs to punt on the next possession, they dialed up their first trickeration of the day, shockingly on special teams. Josh Cribbs was back to return the kick but ran up to the line as Travis Benjamin, the Belle Glade Blur, simultaneously ran back to field the punt. Benjamin fielded the punt at the 7, and bobbed and weaved his way through the coverage, getting great blocks from pretty much everyone on the Browns for a 93 yard touchdown. And with that, the Chiefs were down 10-7 going into halftime. They never threatened again.
On the first play of the second half, Shurmur dialed up a double reverse to Benjamin for 15 yards. Weeden then completed passes to Josh Gordon and Greg Little, both of whom had outstanding games, moving the ball into the redzone. They brought in Josh Cribbs, and gave him a chance to run the ball on a direct snap, which he took down to the one yard line. Richardson then smashed into the endzone for a 17-7 Browns lead. Creativity on offense. It's a beautiful thing.
The Browns defense played exceptional in the second half. On Kansas City's first possession in the second half, they sacked Quinn on first down. After forcing him to scramble on second, Sheldon Brown jumped a 3rd down slant route to Jonathan Baldwin, just missing the interception but tipping the pass into the waiting arms of my man Tashuan Gipson, who picked it off and returned in to the Chiefs 13. They had 5 sacks in the game to go along with the Gipson pick and credit must be given to Dick Jauron who has done a great job with this group.
The Browns could only add a field goal but actually scored two touchdowns, the first to Watson nullified by an illegal shift and the second nullified on an absolutely horrible offensive pass interference call on Trent Richardson. 20-7 and the Browns were rolling.
They forced another Chiefs punt on the following possession and rode the legs of Montario Hardesty and hands of Ben Watson down the field. Shurmur called another great play on 3rd and 9, coming out with a 5 wide receiver set and motioning Little into the backfield before the snap. Weeden pitched to Little with Joe Thomas and John Greco out in front and he gained seventeen yards down to the 1 yard line. Richardson finished the drive with another one yard touchdown. And while I like Richardson scoring the touchdown and tying Jim Brown's rookie rushing touchdown record, I also liked in the press conference after the game where Shurmur said he was "pissed off" at himself for not letting Hardesty score after getting them down there. Players appreciate things like that. Hardesty has played great as a complement to Richardson.
Dawson added a 34 yard field goal to close out the scoring, the Browns rolling off 30 straight points to win 30-7. Colt McCoy came in and took some knees to close out the game. The Browns were the dominant team, and rarely has a victory come with so little drama.
An outstanding win for this young team, as momentum is starting to build. The have Washington at home next week, and Denver and Pittsburgh on the road to close the season. They are technically still in the playoff chase, and if they finish 8-8 they'll own the tiebreaker with every team except Buffalo. There are no shortages of storylines for the last 3 weeks. Playoffs?? Could the Browns run the table? Would that save Shurmur's job? Should it? Or have the fates of Shurmur and Tom Heckert already been decided?
Maybe the writing is on the wall, and has been since the sale. I refuse to believe that is the case, although the flames of change have produced a tremendous amount of smoke these last few weeks regarding both of their futures. I already stated my case for Heckert here but I just don't see how it can be possible for Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner to ignore what seems to be building here, and the support and credibility that Heckert has developed with the fans. But everyday it's a new rumor, and Joe Banner refuses to come out with anything public to endorse either man. It seems more and more likely that Heckert will not be with the Browns after the season.
Only in Cleveland would we have to deal with this. Only Browns fans. Not one other fan base has suffered through what we have. We could have jumped ship, many did. Those turncoats, those fair weather fans, they wear black and yellow now. We didn't jump ship. We stayed, knowing one day that our Browns would be back, a football team worthy of wearing those orange helmets and representing the best fans in the country. I'm not ready to declare this team worthy yet, but they just may be. At the very least, they inspire hope. There are legitimate future stars on this team in Richardson, Gordon, and Haden. Each of whom was brought here by Tom Heckert, who as GM has an obvious eye for talent and a willingness to roll the dice that has not been seen around here since the 1980's. Those three players, possible franchise cornerstones, were not slam dunks. Heckert selected Haden with the 6th pick in the draft despite his poor 40 yard dash at the combine, when "experts" said you can't draft a corner without world class speed that high. Heckert was blasted for trading 4th, 5th, and 7th round picks to ensure he got Richardson, a franchise running back. And Heckert took the biggest risk of all in this year's supplemental draft, giving up next years second round pick to select Josh Gordon. I would venture to guess that there is not one other GM in the league that would have had the stones to make that pick in the same situation. Every week, Josh Gordon gets better, and makes Tom Heckert look smarter, and makes the people who blasted him after he made the pick look stupid. Only in Cleveland would we finally have someone who has built a team that we can enjoy watching grow, that offers real hope for the future, and have to worry about him getting replaced. It would only happen here, that a guy who to this point has been as good as anyone in the NFL at his job would be replaced just for the sake of change. I don't know what is going to happen over the next 3 weeks, or beyond. I don't want to have to think about Michael Lombardi or Josh McDaniels, or about switching to a 3-4 defense, or about whether Joe Banner thinks Brandon Weeden is a franchise quarterback. I want to enjoy the last 3 games for what they are, and hope that for once the course of the franchise is the right one. And I want to believe that if they Browns keep playing like they have been, Banner and Haslam won't halt the momentum that is building. And if they do blow this franchise up again, well, it would only happen in Cleveland.
That's my last Tom Heckert rant for this week.
Gifs of the week
Rivers don't want none of Tomlin
Pacquiao. KO'd.
Santa. KO'd.
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