Some teams win by overpowering opponents, while others win by outlasting them. The second approach rarely impresses anyone early in a season, but those wins count the same in the standings. After enough of them, the people grading every game start to notice a pattern. The Browns have built one through 6 weeks, and it earned them high marks after Sunday’s win over the Baltimore Ravens.
John Breech of CBS Sports gave the Browns a B+ for their 13-10 victory.
“If you’ve seen one Browns’ game this season, you’ve seen them all: Cleveland’s defense keeps the game close until the fourth quarter and then the offense wins it with a miracle drive. And that’s exactly what happened here. In the fourth quarter, Deshaun Watson took over. He only threw for 164 yards in this game, but 94 of that came in the final quarter. The miracle Browns might be for real,” Breech wrote.
Breech’s description fits every win the Browns have collected. All 4 were decided by 4 points or fewer, and each one needed a go-ahead drive in the 4th quarter from Deshaun Watson, who now leads the NFL with 4 game-winning drives.
Sunday followed the script exactly. Cleveland managed just 46 yards in the 1st half and trailed 10-0, then gained 130 of its 237 total yards in the 4th quarter alone.
The defense made the comeback possible. After giving up 10 points in the 1st quarter, the Browns allowed only 123 yards over the final 3 quarters and held Derrick Henry to 58 yards on 17 carries. They did it without Mason Graham and Mike Hall Jr., and without Grant Delpit for most of the afternoon.
The game turned on back-to-back Baltimore possessions. Tyler Loop missed a field goal, and then Carson Schwesinger forced a Henry fumble that Tyson Campbell recovered. That set up a short drive capped by Audric Estime’s 2-yard touchdown run, which tied the game at 10.
Watson took it from there. He threw for 94 of his 164 yards in the 4th quarter and moved the offense into range for Andre Szmyt’s 37-yard field goal as time expired.
Breech also singled out Jerry Jeudy, whose 33-yard catch helped set up the winning kick. Jeudy has been a forgotten piece of the offense for much of the year, but his 4 catches for 69 yards earned him a game ball from Todd Monken and could change his outlook before the November 10 trade deadline.
Baltimore’s grade tells the other side of the story. Breech gave the Ravens a B-, noting that a team playing without Lamar Jackson has little margin for error and that blown 4th-quarter leads remain a problem for Jesse Minter in his first season.
Breech wrote that the AFC North suddenly looks like the best division in football, and the Browns are on top of it after Week 6 for the first time in 12 years.
Cleveland has still been outscored on the season and will eventually need the offense to start faster. Even so, a team that keeps finding ways to win is hard to dismiss, and Sunday’s trip to face the Tennessee Titans is another chance to show this run is more than luck.
NEXT: Mike Tomlin Has Honest Admission About Todd Monken
