1: The Jets missed field-goals skewed things somewhat. The Jets should have won in regulation. I hate writing that as much as homers will hate reading it.
2: However, the Jets are the most balanced and talented team the Browns have played thus far, including (and this part I like writing) the Stoolers and Ratbirds.
3: The Saints, and now the Patriots, have beaten the Stoolers--vs. the Pats, it wasn't even close.
4: McCoy came from behind, in the clutch, to send it to overtime. It's been years since I've had this feeling about a quarterback. What's more, he pretty much had the overtime victory nailed down til Stucky fumbled.
4a: Stuckey should not be benched or cut-don't even start. He's the most reliable wide-out the Browns have.
5: Hillis can't take better care of the ball. Overpowered defenders go for his legs or the ball, and if he didn't have those huge guns, he'd have fumbled a whole lot more. Statisticly, he's still got pretty good security numbers.
6: The defense got worn down when the Jets found ways to stop Hillis in the second half. The offense sputtered, and the defense paid for it. It sure didn't help that Edwards deliberately speared Sheldon Brown out of the game.
7: Anal-ists criticized defenders for trying to take Sanchez down high. Well, sometimes that's all they had when reaching past blockers, and more importantly it's now illegal to go for the quarterback's legs...which is rediculous. Still, they should have wrapped him up.
8: Coverage was generally excellent. Most of the Jets big completions happened when Sanchez shook off tacklers and had all kinds of extra time. If you expect D. Revis or any other cornerback to cover any NFL reciever for 7-10 seconds, please resume taking your meds.
9: Cribbs' injury was critical. He'd been drawing heat away from Hillis. Nice game-plan by lynch-mob victim Brian Daboll. Now that they got rid of Rodney Harrisonfield (dammit), they had to scrap it when Cribbs went out.
The Browns remaining schedule is tough, but they've played the best three teams, and won two of them. They have proven, repeatedly, that they are a match for any team in the NFL. Were you expecting this? Are you raising the bar again now?
Holmgren platitudes aside, you had to know that he wasn't expecting this team to go to the playoffs this season. He wasn't expecting McCoy to be this good this fast. He couldn't have anticipated beating New Orleans and New England.
The plan--regardless of what he said--was to prepare McCoy for next year (not "two or three years" like some clowns said), get another draft and some more free agents, and go after the division title net season.
Now, before this next talent-infusion, they're going toe-to-toe with the NFL's elite.
They almost certainly won't make the playoffs this season--but only because it's just too late. They're already among the NFL's best teams--warts and all.
Now, they can go into the off-season knowing that they've got a quarterback. They can focus on wide recievers, depth running backs maybe, defensive linemen, safeties, etc. Now, they'll START net season expecting to contend.
No, you didn't expect that. And as dear to you as your hatred of Mangini and Daboll is, start facing the reality that you were full of crap, and move on.
After gathering and alalyzing recent actionable intelligence, I am revising my win/loss projection to 10-6.
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