For what it's worth

As it stands now, the Browns are on a playoffs course that could propel them to a third game this season against the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens. Of course that would require a few other eventualities, but the way this season has unfolded, just about anything regarding this team is possible.

Here is how it could all come down.

The fifth-seeded Browns' opponent in the wild-card round on the road will be the winner of the AFC South, which is locked in a three-way tie for the lead heading into the final week of the regular season this weekend. The Jacksonville Jaguars hold the tie-breaker over Indianapolis and Houston.

Cleveland swept the division during the regular season, knocking off Tennessee and Jacksonville at home and Houston and Indy on the road. They did it mostly with offense, averaging 29.5 points a game with Deshaun Watson and P. J. Walker helming the first two games and Joe Flacco in charge of the final two.

What follows is presupposing a Browns victory. 

Flacco stays on course with his sizzling Cleveland career and advances the Browns to the divisional round against the highest-seeded AFC team. That would be the top-ranked team in the AFC: Baltimore, which drew a bye in the opening round.

The Browns and Ravens met twice duding the regular season, each winning on the road. The Ravens humbled the Browns' defense, which stormed through the first three games of the season in historic fashion, with Lamar Jackson throwing for two scores and running for two more in a 28-3 victory.

The Cleveland offense had no chance with Dorian Thompson-Robinson, subbing for an injured Watson, looking very much like a fifth-round rookie quarterback making his first National Football League start.

The two teams met again in week 10 in Baltimore in a game that was pretty much a microcosm of the season because of the manner in which the Browns became relentless, demonstrating a never-give-up-approach to games that turned potential losses around.

The Ravens jumped out to the lead when safety Kyle Hamilton picked off Watson mere seconds into the game and romped 18 yards for the touchdown. They built the lead to 24-9 early in the third quarter on a Jackson-Odell Beckham Jr. connection and pushed it to 31-17 on a short Gus Edwards run with nine minutes left.

Just when it appeared it was going to be yet another Ravens victory, in this lopsided series, the Browns pulled off the kind of comeback Browns Nation has seen all too often from opponents. It began with Watson and Elijah Moore, who had been somewhat of a disappointment this season, collaborating on a 10-yard scoring strike to culminate a seven-play, 75-yard drive.

Minutes later, Greg Newsome II picked off Jackson and returned it 34 yards for the score to pull the Browns to within a point, but the usually reliable Dustin Hopkins shockingly missed his first point-after of the season. Nothing comes easy with this team.

The Cleveland defense stiffened on the next possession and forced a punt with 4:55 left. It took 11 plays to move the football to the Baltimore 22-yard line, bleeding the clock along the way with a variety of short to medium throws and the running of Jerome Ford and Kareem Hunt. Hopkins gained his redemption with a right-down-the-middle field goal from 40 yards as time ran out.

That was the last time this season the 13-3 Ravens have been on the wrong end of the final score. That was six games ago. Since then, they have defeated several elite teams rather handily behind an elite defense and a dangerous offense led by the spectacular Jackson.

And now the distinct possibility exists that Flacco will get a chance to face his old team in Baltimore in what would be one of the wonderfully dramatic games of the season considering what he has done for not only the Browns, but the city of Cleveland this season.

It would be the second time he faced the Ravens, and the first in Baltimore. He was in his third season with the Jets when he faced them for the first time in the 2022 season opener, a 24-9 loss in New Jersey in what turned out to be a very busy afternoon. He attempted 59 passes and completed 37 for 309 yards, one touchdown and one pick. 

What Sunday's regular-season finale in Cincinnati with regard to who plays and who sits in that game is anybody's guess. There's nothing to gain or lose. The guess here is head coach Kevin Stefanski starts his regulars for a possession or two and then gives the bench big minutes.

Monday leftovers

Thursday edition

While the Browns' offense grabbed most of the attention in Thursday night's playoff-clinching victory over the New York Jets with a 34-point first half, not enough has been showered on the other side of the football.

After being scalded for 17 halftime points and probably a scolding from defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, the Browns limited the Jets to just a Greg Zuerlein field goal in seven possessions after Kevin Stefanski took his offense conservative.

He gambled the offense put enough points on the board to pull back a little bit and give the defense, which has struggled a bit  recently, a chance at redemption. Othere than the field goal, the Jets threatened only one other time, but defensive tackle Shelby Harris blocked another Zuerlein attempt on the intial possession of the second half.

The Jets piled up sizable yardage with quarterback Trevor Siemian playing pitch and catch with wide receiver Garrett Wilson and tight end Tyler Conklin, and running back Breece Hall was a pest running and receiving with 126 yards on 22 touches, but the Jets got no closer than the Cleveland 32.

They spun their wheels for a majority of the second half, unable to come up with a big play when needed. Linebackers Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Sione Takitaki were two of the main reasons, combing for 27 tackles, 18 solo for the evening.

Owusu-Koramoah has become the player the Browns envisioned when they selected him in the second round of the 2021 college draft out of Notre Dame. He always seems go be where the football is and has improved his tackling to the point where he leads the Browns in that department with 101 this season.

Takitaki has come a long way since starting his pro career as a special teams ace and situational linebacker, looking comfortable after filling in for oft-injured middle backer Anthony Walker Jr., who missed most of last season with a serious knee injury.

***

Credit Joe Flacco, as if he hasn't received enough already, with adjusting nicely in the absence of Amari Cooper Thursday night. Didn't take him long to tap tight end David Njoku with a 28-yard pass that set up Jerome Ford's seven-yard scoring scamper on the opening drive of the game.

The old quarterback has been money on opening possessions this season, putting touchdowns on the board right out of the chute in four of his five starts. He took the offense 75 yards in nine plays against the Los Angeles Rams in his Cleveland debut in week 13, Jerome Ford capping it off with a 24-yard pass.

He began the following week against Jacksonville with a six-play, 75-yard march. hitting Njoku with another 24-yard scoring flip. Then came his only miss so far against Chicago, the initial possession ending in a punt after a six-play, 19-yard drive stalled and brought on Corey Bojorquez.

Flacco got back on track next game against Houston, opening up the game with a 53-yard bomb to Cooper that ended three plays later with Ford again scooting four yards for the score. And on Thursday night, he engineered a seven-play, 75-yarder, highlighted by strikes of 36 and 28 yards to Njoku

There is nothing better for a defense than to watch your offense put up numbers like that and immediately gain an emotional and psychological advantage. Put the opposition on quick notice that it won't be easy.

***

Rookie wide receiver Cedric Tillman learned the hard way Thursday night that quitting on running a route with Flacco under center is a really, really big no-no.

It happened late in the opening quarter with the Browns holding a 13-7 lead, shortly after recovering a fumbled kickoff return at the Jets' 12. Three plays later, Stefanski gambled on fourth and four at the New York six. A strong rush and good coverage caused Flacco to scramble.

He moved right and appeared to wave Tillman to the wide receiver's right in the end zone. The wideout did and then stopped. The pass was nearly intercepted. 

Flacco raised his arms disgustingly, indicating by motioning that the play might have resulted in a touchdown had Tillman not quit his route. He has been victimized enough by sloppy route running in his brief tenure with the Browns. 

***

Finally . . . New kicker Riley Patterson got off on the wrong foot with Browns fans, sending his initial point-after effort wide right following safety Ronnie Hickman's pick six. The fans mockingly cheered his 33-yard field goal late in the game and the success on the other four PAT. . . . The Browns close out the regular season Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, who helped them open the season back on Sept. 10 that resulted in a 24-3 Cleveland victory that featured quarterbacks Joe Burrow and Deshaun Watson. . . . New punter Matt Haack looked a lot like Bojorquez in his Cleveland debut. The left-footed kicker averaged 51.7 yards a punt. The left-footed Bojorquez has averaged 49.5 yards this season on 80 punts. . . . Bojorquez might be ready for the playoffs. Can't say the same for Dustin Hopkins.

What a fun ride

The climb back to the postseason for the Browns was arduous most of the way, utterly daunting at other times and often felt damn near impossible with all kinds of impediments that pretty much declared, "Not this season, guys."

So you can imagine the sweet feeling of accomplishment that washed over the joyous capacity home crowd and the international reach of Browns Nation moments before the conclusion of the 37-20 post-season-clinching victory over the New York Jets Thursday night on national television.

It was Dickensian the entire 60 minutes. 'Twas a tale of two halves that featured a 12-round 34-17 slugfest in the first 30 minutes followed by the polar opposite the rest of the way: A slugfest that featured both  defenses and two field goals.

The halftime score had just about everyone busting out the record books in case it continued in the second half. Didn't come even close with just a field goal by each team as it melted into a boring game with Kevin Stefanski satisfied to play much more conservatively, leaning on the ground game to protect the lead and bring this one home in style to stretch the winning streak to four.

Playing January football for only the third time in the last 25 seasons, the Browns did all the damage in the first two quarters with Joe Flacco throwing for 300 yards for the fourth straight game, and three touchdowns, giving him 13 on the season, before Stefanski used his play-not-to-lose card.

Operating for the first time without Amari Cooper, a pre-game scratch most likely precautionary after testing an injured heel, Flacco turned his attention to tight end David Njoku, who caught six passes for 134 hard-earned yards; Elijah Moore's six grabs for 61 yards and a score before leaving in the second half with a concussion; and running back Jerome Ford, who scored on both of his receptions.

The defense grabbed some of the spotlight, too, for the 11-5 Browns when rookie safety Ronnie Hickman's pick six of a Trevor Siemian pass early in the second quarter boosted the lead to 20-7. And Myles Garrett added to the celebration by ending his five-game sackless shneid.

The way Flacco was throwing, he could have gone well over 300 yards behind an offensive line that despite playing together for only a couple of games has protected the meal ticket very well. Another reason this team has become dangerous with the postseason around the corner.

Considering the way they have played the last dozen games (9-3), the guess here is any playoff team not considered elite does not want to face the Browns in the wild-card round. Certainly not with Flacco working his magic and showing few signs of wearing down.

His sideline demeanor Thursday night in the face of a second half when his coach unobtrusively took the game out of his hands with such a large lead and out of the spotlight he's been in all season, indicated this accomplishment meant a lot to him. He couldn't stop smiling and celebrating.

After sitting at home all summer waiting for a telephone call, any telephone call from any team in the National Football League, you bet this ranks right up there with the numerous significant memories in his lengthy career.

And now Browns fans in a few weeks will get to see Flacco playing in an atmosphere that seems to bring out the best in him to the point where he has flourished before our eyes. To be here at his advanced age and prospering beyond reason undoubtedly makes it that much sweeter.

He knows what it's like to play at an elite level. And now he's back on that level. If nothing else, this proves -- at least to him and no doubt his family -- that despite disappointing stops in Denver and New York with the Jets the last few years after after leaving Baltimore, he made the correction decision to stick it out.

So did Browns General Manager Andrew Berry, whose early November call to Flacco began the Browns' improbable march to a place that seemed like a pipe dream after Deshaun Watson went down halfway through the season.

The lone quibble is how much better would all this have turned out if Berry had placed that call earlier. The fact it was made, though, makes it that much more satisfying to a fandom that needed a team like this for whom to root. It does, indeed, embody what Cleveland is all about.

And it could get even better.

Barring any surprises in the final weekend of the regular season, the Browns will finish with the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs, which means their likely opponent in the wild-card round will be the AFC South champion on the road. Don't tell anyone, but the Browns swept that division this season.

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

Monday leftovers

It took Kevin Stefanski exactly one game to realize the signing of free-agent quarterback Joe Flacco was not just another desperate move by the Browns after losing Deshaun Watson for the 2023 season.

With many very capable veteran quarterbacks out on the street as this fate-filled season rolled on, the club foolishly, as it turned out, cast their lot with a wet-behind-the-ears rookie and a National FootballLeague vagabond whose career has consistently met with little success.

So when General Manager Andrew Berry finally threw up his hands and finally determined the quarterbacks room had to change and plucked Flacco off the street on Nov. 19, little did he and his head coach realize what a ten strike it would turn out to be.

It took Flacco about 10 days on the practice squad to get himself back into playing shape while Stefanski altered the playbook to better fit his gunslinging style. The head coach had watched him from afar and wisely began catering to his strengths.

It took him one game to realize the Browns' offense was about to dramatically -- and seismically -- change and chart a new course to the postseason, a course that puts the 10-5 Browns one victory away from that goal.

Flacco debuted against the Los Angeles Rams in week 13, the second of back-to-back games out west. For some reason, he seemed to be holding the big quarterback back, sort of feeling out what  and would not work with the new guy.

Stefanski dialed up 44 passes in the 36-19 loss for 254 yards and a pair of touchdowns. But he looked good despite the loss. For the first time this season, including Watson's brief stint this season, the Cleveland offense looked sharp.

Flacco's play fakes were executed with exquisite precision, allowing him to complete easy passes as the defenses bit on the fakes. Even though he is on the verge of his 39th birthday, he reminded me a lot of the much younger Joe Flacco who led the Baltimore Ravens to numerous postseasons.

Stefanski obviously saw something that somehow foreshadowed what has happened to this franchise in the last three games, during which Flacco is putting up astonishing statistics that have captured the attention of the NFL.

Since the Rams loss, his production has been otherworldly. In those three games, all victories, he has booked three straight 300-yard games for 1.003 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. In four games overall, it's 1,257 yards, two more TD and a pick. 

The Browns' first 11 games with three different quarterbacks produced 1,549 yards through the air, nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Flacco has accomplished in seven fewer games nearly as much as three others.

Oh yeah, those interceptions. Flacco is not going to stop throwing them until his receivers run their routes correctly and be where the football is supposed to be. He is a timing quarterback who is often victimized when a route is run incorrectly against a zone defense.

Yes he's made some ill-advised throws if he misreads the defense. But he's savvy enough to quickly make corrections. Amari Cooper, who has become the huge beneficiary of Flacco's new-found success, admires how football smart the quarterback is.

What Flacco and Cooper have put together in the last three games sent a lot of people to the record books. Before Flacco arrived, Cooper had banked 47 receptions for 765 yards and a couple of touchdowns in the first 11 games. Since, he has caught 25 more passes for 485 yards and three scores. 

His record-shattering 11-catch, 265-yard afternoon Sunday in the 36-22 victory over Houston is one record that will stand the test of time.

And with the offensive line getting healthier now with the return of Joel Bitonio and Ethan Pocic and the  possibility of reenergizing a sagging ground game to couple with Flacco's play-action prowess, Thursday night's regular-season home finale against the New York Jets becomes a very winnable game.

Virtuoso time

To classify the latest Joe Flacco-Amari Cooper performance on a football field as virtuoso would be an understatement of gigantic proportions.

What these two outrageously talented veteran members of the Browns' offense accomplished Sunday in Houston was several steps beyond remarkable as they willed their team to a 36-22 victory over the Texans in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the final score indicates.

In doing so, they lifted the Browns closer to an invitation to the postseason with two games remaining, including a Thursday night home date with the New York Jets on national television. Even at 10-5, seven different ways to clinch remain that are way too complicated to go over here.

They are so close now, it's almost inconceivable they won't make it. Too many other possibilities have to  come together perfectly in order to keep them out. But hopes rise significantly because the offense hasn't played this well in a long time and Flacco seems to be totally reinvigorated and rejuvenated..

It's been only four games since he joined the Browns, but the stats he has compiled would lead one to believe it has been much longer than that. The symbiotic relationship he has developed with Cooper has  helped produce three straight victories.

The quarterback, who will be 39 the middle of next month, has thrown for 1,257 yards (314 per game) and 10 touchdowns for an offense that was totally lost before he arrived, in addition to seven interceptions (two more Sunday).

He and Cooper combined for 11 receptions (on 15 targets) for the wide receiver's one-game club-record 265 yards and two touchdowns against a Texans defense that looked clueless. The so-called terrific Houston defensive front never dropped Flacco, who received better protection with Joel Bitonio and Ethan Pocic back after shaking off injuries. 

Can't remember the last time one man made this much of a difference to turn around a team headed in the wrong direction and with little hope when he arrived. Flacco has hoisted not just the offense on his shoulders, but the defense now seems much more motivated.

Before the Texans turned a 36-7 deficit into a closer game with consecutive touchdowns against mostly against backups, the Cleveland defense looked a lot like the one who played so well in the early stages of the season.

Only 75 yards of total offense in the first 30 minutes. Texans quarterback Case Keenum threw for just 40 yards. It was an unfair fight.

The only Houston points in the first half were scored off special teams with running back Dameon Pierce taking Dustin Hopkins' kickoff 98 yards following the second of Cooper's scores early in the second quarter. Other than that, the Cleveland defense smothered everything the Texans threw at them.

The coaching strategy of the game changed, though, after Hopkins pulled a hamstring while futilely chasing Pierce and couldn't kick. The man responsible for four game-winning kicks, the man who has missed only three field-goal attempts and the man who was perfect on eight kicks from 50+ yards this season was finished for the day.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski scrambled. At first it was two-point attempts after touchdowns with Dorian Thompson-Robinson. It became worse later when punter Corey Bojorquez went down with what was called a lower-body injury. Safety D'Anthony Bell kicked off a couple of times.

Everything changed strategically after the Texans were successful on an onsides kick and started moving the football better than they had all afternoon with little or no Cleveland resistance.

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz had seen enough after Davis Mills, who had replaced Keenum, moved the Texans quickly on each possession, finishing with scoring throws to Nico Collins from five yards and tight end Andre Beck from a yard out.

Schwartz had seen enough this season to know something was in the early stages of ruining what looked las though it was going to be an easy victory and brought back the starters to settle things down. They probably didn't like working a little overtime, but it worked.

The biggest worry now is fixing the sudden problem with the kicking game, an area that has not caused any worry whatsoever this season. Bojorquez has been one of the league's best and most effective punters this season. And Hopkins has been, well, the Browns' most valuable player with his clutch kicking.

General Manager Andrew Berry probably experienced a fair amount of indigestion as he watched the victory from a suite in the stadium. It looks as though he can cross the offense off his to-do list. And the defense, with the exception of the brief letdown Sunday.

In his business, it seems, it's always something. Next up: The kicking game.

Playoff atmosphere

There's good reason to believe it's still a wee bit early to suggest the 9-5 Browns are a virtual lock to return to the postseason after a two-season absence.

But with three games remaining, including Sunday's in Houston against the Texans, there is every reason to believe every game from here on out will fully prepare them for the playoffs because the intensity of these late regular-season games often produces a playoff-like atmosphere.

Every play, every snap, every decision will be meaningful and in most cases impact the ultimate outcome. Precision of execution is of the utmost importance. The  slightest mistake can become larger due to the pressure involved.

Just about everything takes on greater importance at this time of the season, especially when you get this close in a season that many times was headed in the wrong direction with roadblocks no one saw coming. Everything magnifies now.

The biggest problem for the Browns lies in the fact this is nowhere near as strong a football team on offense as the talent-laden crew that began back on Sept. 10 with a home victory against the Cincinnati Bengals. The talent quotient is at a season low.

Gone until next season are the likes of Nick Chubb, Deshaun Watson and most of the offensive line with injuries now playing havoc with various parts of the secondary and defensive line. Early-season mastery that threatened to break numerous records on defense has abated to the point where that side of the ball is just hanging on.

And if it weren't for Andrew Berry's sagacious decision to bring Joe Flacco back to the National Football League, there's no telling where the Browns would be at this moment. In a relative blink of an eye, the ageless quarterback has become a franchise savior. The irony is stupefying and astonishing all at once. 

If there's anyone who knows what it's like to play this level of football at this time of the season and excel with so much on the line, it's Flacco, who has booked 15 games over the course of six postseasons with the Baltimore Ravens and thrown for 3,223 yards, 25 touchdown passes and just 10 interceptions. Oh and one Super Bowl MVP.

A vast percentage of this roster can only dream of playing meaningful football this far into the season. Flacco seems to be the kind of guy willing to share his experiences. There's no better time to start than Sunday against a team locked in a three-way tie for the lead in the AFC South -- right there with the Browns in the post-season chase -- and a 5-1 record at home.

The Browns won't have to face quarterback C. J. Stroud, spending his second weekend in concussion protocol. The former Ohio State standout has put up sensational rookie season numbers with 20 touchdown passes and only five picks, and is a lock to win NFL rookie-of-the-year honors.

Case Keenum, so backed up Baker Mayfield in Cleveland for a couple of seasons, steps in and will be the main target for the Cleveland defense, which has played horrendously on the road his season. Many of the playmakers responsible for the sensational early start are either on injured reserve or just a step or two shy of that status with nagging injuries.

Keenum is more efficient when he works from sideline to sideline, whereas Stroud is a north-south, gunslinging flamethrower. Keenum is excellent at taking what the defense gives him. The deep secondary won't have to worry about him. Look for a more well-balanced Texans attack.

Keenum will throw primarily to wide receiver Nico Collins, who has banked a 1.000-yard season with six touchdowns, tight end Dalton Schultz, who checks in with 513 yards and five scores, and the wide receiver tandem of Noah Brown and Robert Woods, who have filled in nicely after rookie Tank Dell, who flashed for 709 yards and seven touchdowns in 10 games, broke a leg recently.

The Texans' ground game will be handled almost exclusively by Devin Singletary,  who has rushed for half of the team's 1,400 infantry yards. 

Defensively, the Texans are opportunistic with at least one takeaway in all but two of their games, 20 overall. And the offense has gifted teams just 12 times. (FYI: The much more generous Browns have distributed 30 of those gifts this season, including six in the last two games, both victories.)  

On offense, it has reached the point where head coach Kevin Stefanski, as the playcaller, all but abandoned the ground game in the last two games because his new patchwork offensive line was incapable of opening holes or creating creases through which running backs can prosper. 

But it protected Flacco well enough and long enough for him to throw for 212 of his 374 yards and two of his three touchdowns in the final quarter of the dramatic 20-17 victory over the Chicago Bears Sunday. And with center Ethan Pocic and left guard Joel Bitonio reportedly ready to return, that could change Sunday.

Factoring in the improbability of what the Browns have done on any given Sunday this season and the success the Texans have enjoyed at home, this one figures to be close for at least the first three quarters with neither team sustaining any momentum. It will be a battle of the defenses featuring a multitude of turnovers. In other words, it'll be quite ugly and yawningly boring. Coin flip time: Going with the home-field advantage like I did last week against the Bears. Make it:

Texans 24, Browns 23

Mid-week thoughts

Overlooked somewhat, due most likely to the anticipation of the Browns clinching at least an invitation to the National Football League's 2023 postseason Sunday, is one sobering fact.

Two of the season's final three games, including Sunday's in Houston, are on the road. And with the Browns approaching the precipice of their first invitation to the postseason since 2020, the road is not where they should be. Unless the figures lie, that is.

They don't. 

Instead, they indicate trouble lurking in this almost magical season that has not only weekly entertained and fascinated Browns Nation, but unveiled characteristics that have eluded this franchise for way too long. 

The Cleveland community has connected with this group because they embody what Cleveland is all about: Grit, determination, overachievement, and somehow finding ways to win games in spite of an enormous number of physical impediments that would cripple other teams.

That they are 9-5 at this point of the season is borderline miraculous, a testament proving that just about anything can be achieved with hard work. And luck, which has been attached to this team by some from time to time, is the residue of hard work. That attribute will be put to the test down in Houston.

The Browns have played six games away from downtown Cleveland, where they are 7-1. They are the antithesis of road warriors at 2-4 and that's a slippery 2-4. Both road victories were achieved by merely outscoring the opposition (33-31 in Baltimore and 39-38 in Indianapolis). Only Carolina (0-8), Las Vegas (1-5) and Tennessee (1-6) are worse on the road.

Defense is the main culprit, surrendering 184 points in the six games (30.7 per). And most of that was accomplished before the devastating injuries arrived. Still labeled one of the best defenses in the league, that clearly is not the case away from home.

And now we are in week 16 when most of the players are either healthy second-stringers who are part of  sub packages and don't get many reps, or a season-long starter. fighting to stay healthy but not nearly the the player he was earlier in the season.

Attrition is starting to catch up to the Browns on this side of the football after it all but wiped out the vast majority of the starting offense. Most of the defensive line (where pass defense begins, says defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz) is either gone for the season or on injured reserve.

Myles Garrett, playing at about 60% due to a bad shoulder, is the Lone Ranger on the edge. Too bad he ean't play both simultaneously. Right now, he is stuck on 13 sacks for the season with a career-high four straight games without a sack. Schwartz needs more than Garrett, a lot more. If he doesn't get it, nothing starts with the Browns line.

The only area that hasn't ben hit hard by hard by injuries is linebacker, where Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoah has been a tackling machine with 84 (60 solo) to lead the team in both categories and Sione Takitaki, whose versatility has been rewarded with more snaps.

The fact the defense will face Case Keenum rather than hot-shot rookie C. J. Stroud, in concussion protocol, is a break. Stroud is a vertical quick-strike quarterback for the Texans. Keenum, who backed up Baker Mayfield with the Browns in 2020 and 2021, is a horizontal quarterback with a more conservative approach.

It has been almost six weeks (Nov. 12 against the Ravens) since the Browns won a road game. Many positives have occurred since, including a few miracles at home created mainly by the offense but with occasional timely help from their defensive brethren. They need at least one more like it. And from what we've seen all season long, all the right attributes are there. 

Monday leftovers

Lost in the frenzy of the Browns' recent surge back into the National Football League's post-season picture lies the stark reality that Joe Flacco appears to have unlocked the secret as to why David Njoku has been a sizable disappointment since being selected in the first round of the 2017 college football draft.

Njoku had the size at 6-4 and a famously-chiseled 246-pound frame he proudly displayed during pre-game warmups no matter the weather. He sure looked impressive in his uniform. 

Once he stepped onto the field, though, it was a different story. He played the game as though he was allergic to pigskin. No matter the quarterback, he has had trouble with his hands, not only securing the throw when targeted but holding on to it. Instead of catching the ball, he fought it and piled up his drops.

He became unreliable to the point where he often became an afterthought in game plans. At the same time, he worked on his blocking and developed into a reliable asset in the ground game, but did not abandon his quest to become valuable in the passing game.

It wasn't until Flacco came along three games ago that Njoku showed signs of flourishing. In fact, prior to his arrival, the great concern in Browns Nation was Njoku's drop count rose to the point where he was among the league leaders in that department.

The two didn't click in their first game together, a loss in Los Angeles against the Rams, but Flacco seems to have picked something up with regard to how Njoku runs his routes and makes himself available, and how savagely he runs after catching the ball.

Of the 704 yards in receptions he has compiled this season, the big tight end has gained 394 of them after making a catch. That's good enough for 18th place in the league, but given Flacco's new symbiotic relationship with him, that number should increase nicely.

He is a load to bring down when both feet are on the ground and churning following a reception. And now that he has added a hurdling kind of leap over defenders to his repertoire to avoid low tackles, he has become a danger to opposing secondaries.

Flacco apparently likes to see that kind of yardage pile up. Makes his stats look better. In the last two games against Jacksonville and Chicago, both victories, he targeted his tight end 22 times with Njoku grabbing 16 of them for 195 yards and three touchdowns. His 10 touches against the Bears represents his season high in that department.

To put that in perspective, Njoku scored only two touchdowns in the first 12 games of the season. 

***

Watch out, Wyatt Teller, the grim reaper is coming for you after claiming fellow guard Joel Bitonio early in the Bears victory with a bad back. Teller is the lone remaining offensive lineman from the group that began the season. Back injuries are tricky, especially for someone like the 6-4, 320-pound Bitonio, who is 32. He is now listed as day-to-day.

Gone and not coming back until 2024 are LT1 (Jedrick Wills Jr.), C1 (Ethan Pocic), RT1 (Jack Conklin) and RT2 (Dawand Jones). 

Protecting Flacco now are tackles Geron Christian and James Hudson III, Teller and Michael Dunn (depending on Bitonio's status come game time Sunday in Houston) and center Nick Harris. The latter limped off the field in the fourth quarter Sunday with a foot injury, but returned. If he is unable to go against the Texans, rookie Luke Wypler from Ohio State is the next man up.

The inexperience of that new offensive front could be one of the reasons Kevin Stefanski has slanted his attack heavily toward the forward pass. Sunday's 29 yards on 18 attempts was a season low. That's not Stefanski football. He keeps this up and opposing defensive coordinators will ignore Flacco's play fakes and zero in on him. Got to keep them honest.

Snatching a victory
from jaws of defeat

Six minutes and five seconds remained in the third quarter of Sunday's National Football League game between the hometown Browns and Chicago Bears and I had a feeling at that point as to the outcome. 

The Bears had just taken a 17-7 lead and the Browns showed no signs whatsoever of indicating that observation was improbable and seriously understating it. In fact, just about no one saw it coming. 

"This one's over," I wrote in my notes at that point after the Bears had taken a 17-7 lead on a Cairo Santos field goal. Why so early? What made it so evident? Lack of faith? Not with this team. More injuries? To an extent when guard Joel Bitonio left with a back injury early in the fist half.

There was just something about this one that said winning will have to wait one more week this time. The Browns have exhausted their comeback victories for the season. Couldn't put my finger on why not, though. 

And that is why the 20-17 Browns victory that slowly unraveled ranks as one of the most improbable, stunning, mind-blowing, how-in-the-world-did-that-happen, come-from-behind victories this iteration of the franchise has recorded. If I hadn't seen it, I would never have believed it.

Practically nothing worked for the Browns. Until it did.

The run game was hardly used. Not sure why. Joe Flacco, who had a Jekyll-Hyde afternoon, finally floated back down to Earth with three more interceptions that helped set up all the Bears points before resurrecting himself in the second half. It all had the feel of a loss because there didn't seem to be any effort to find ways of changing the situation.

The offense, which knows how good their defense is, discovered the Bears' just might be a little better,  much more opportunistic and crazily disruptive. Once getting the lead in the second quarter, they threw just about everything at Flacco, who was sacked four times, 2.5 by Montez Sweat, and hounded  mercilessly.

As it was, the Browns were fortunate to be on the wrong end of just a 17-7 score at the time. That's because the Chicago offense isn't very good and couldn't put the Browns away, in part thanks to a defense that hung around long enough to finally do something about it.

This team has been through so much this season in their efforts to win games, nothing after this would seem improbable. And yet, in real time, I had this feeling their good fortune was about to run out. even as it played out. The postseason was slipping away.

It lingered into the final quarter. The Browns hung around, desperately looking for something, anything that would serve as a jolt of inspiration to get them focused on the task at hand.

And then there was a glimmer, a spark that suggested this one wasn't over just yet. Rookie cornerback Cameron Mitchell made the play of the day on the first snap of the fourth quarter, dropping scrambling Chicago quarterback Justin Fields shy of a first down on fourth-and-one at the Cleveland 40.

It was almost as though Flacco took a clue from the big play, booking a sizzling second half, hitting on 14 of 21 in the final 30 minutes for 234 yards and a scoring strike of 51 yards to Amari Cooper that tied the score after completing 14 of 23 for 134 yards in the opening half.

The Browns defense, by now looking a lot like the one that was so spectacular at the beginning of the season, recorded their eighth three-and-out in 15 possessions and turned the game over to Flacco, who connected with David Njoku on throws of 31 and 34 yards that moved the ball to the Chicago 15, where Dustin Hopkins, per usual, delivered the final dagger from 34 yards.

But this being the Browns and their unpredictable selves this season, nothing is assumed. Fields found Tyler Scott for 30 yards at the Cleveland 45 against soft coverage. It was his final completion of the day, but not his final heave. The final Hail Mary toss to the Cleveland end zone wound up in the the hands of Browns safety D'Anthony Bell.

Drama there, too. Television replays showed Bears wide receiver Darnell Toomey, in the group  gathered in the end zone in the event of a deflection, was on the receiving end of such a deflection. He actually had the football in his arms before losing it with Bell on the recovery for the interception.

Considering the way this season has gone for the now 9-5 Browns, this result is a microcosm of their journey thus far. There's a charm about this team that's hard to define. Tough and resilient come immediately to mind. Lucky, too, but that's because they create their own luck through hard work. 

It has also become obvious they love playing at home at 7-1, ending the home schedule against the New York Jets (and Aaron Rodgers?) with road games at Houston next Sunday and Cincinnati in the regular-season finale.

The postseason has been the main goal. And now they are on the precipice. They arrive a physically battered group wearing, for the most part, the scars of victory. The latest one, though, will be remembered as the most satisfying.