Playoffs dead ahead

The season the fates sent to Cleveland for the 2023 season, the one that has agonizingly toyed with Browns Nation for practically the entire campaign, is a teeny tiny step away from returning them to the postseason Thursday night on national television.

The entire nation needs to see this team play a game of football to understand and appreciate how the Browns have become the darlings of the National Football League landscape the last month or so, coming from out of nowhere to carve out a 10-5 record despite injuries that would have felled lesser teams.

Giving into that was not in their DNA . . .  on both sides of the football as it has turned out. The defense carried this team through the first half of the season until the offense caught up in a spectacular way the last month, or when the Browns went after Joe Flacco and he didn't say no.

These Browns are entertaining but not in a spectacular way. The lunchpail approach to their work on defense, in particular, plays well in blue-collar Cleveland.  No matter what the scoreboard says, they have been in every game except one. Winning games on the last play of the waning seconds has become a specialty.

They major in hanging around. The game never gets away from them. And now with Flacco in charge of the huddle, that will not happen the rest of the season. They are never out of a game as long as he remains vertical and healthy.

All they have do Thursday night quite simply is score at least one more point than the visiting New York Jets and it'll be 2020 all over again. It's that simple. A just reward for a team that shrugged off all the major injuries, overachieved and outworked the opposition.

After trying to figure out the last few weeks who has to win and/or lose and/or tie to determine the Browns' fate, all that is about to reach a conclusion.  

A couple of interesting storylines for this one, the main one involving Flacco, who led the Jets a year ago with far less success than he's had with the Browns and whose sizzling stats with Cleveland almost certainly has caught the attention of the New York defense, which permits only 190 yards a game through the air.

This season,  Flacco and wide receiver Amari Cooper are playing otherworldly football with tight end David Njoku waiting in the wings to break through. Throw in an offensive line that has protected its ageless quarterback zealously and you have the winning formula.

The Jets have rolled out three quarterbacks this season with Trevor Siemian owning the QB1 reps now after Zach Wilson traveled between hot and cold too many times before head coach Robert Saleh turned to Siemian, who beat Washington last week. He is not a long-distance threat. Tim Boyle lasted long enough to start and lose two games.

Jets running back Breece Hall will be the main concern for the Browns' front seven in both facets of the offense. He is just as dangerous catching passes out of the backfield as he is running between the tackles, compiling seven touchdowns and 869 total yards. 

Former Ohio State standout Garrett Wilson is having another terrific season with 88 receptions for 958 yards, three touchdowns and 43 first downs. 

The big question for the Browns is when -- or even whether -- Kevin Stefanski will turn his running game loose. The Browns have recorded just one 100-yard game -- and that was barely over at 107 yards in the Denver loss -- in the last six games.

In the first nine games of the season, however, the Cleveland ground attack registered seven 100-yard games. It's understandable Stefanski wants to get as much out of Flacco as he can, but practically ignoring the run game might come back and sting if someone finds a way to shut down Flacco.

In the end, the is no denying the Jets are a mediocre, middle-of-the-pack team that does not play well on the road facing a team far more talented with just one loss in eight games by the lakefront. Flacco will enjoy the evening, rewarding fans with three more touchdowns (Amari Cooper, Jerome Ford and Njoku) and two more picks (that seems to be his MO this season). The defense will pick up two more takeways (that'll be 10 in the last four games) en route to an unusually easy victory. Make it:

Browns 28, Jets 13