CLEVELAND — It's a win.
The Browns hung on. It wasn't pretty, but it's a win. That's the operative phrase.
They were not able to put the Lions away through most of the afternoon after sitting on a 13-0 lead. Detroit came dangerously close — and I mean dangerously close — to at least tying the game, if not taking the lead.
But the Browns rode their running back today, and Nick Chubb was... well, how he always is: just tremendous. He had 130 yards rushing, and in the last couple of minutes when the Browns needed first downs to keep that clock going and the ball away from Detroit, it was Nick Chubb who carried the mail for them with two big runs that forced the Lions to use their timeouts. They never got the ball back again.
Now, it was kind of on the ugly side, no doubt about it. But we've been on the other side of this situation and ended up as a losing team. Instead, they win this one to go to 6-5.
The offense never seemed to get in rhythm, even with Chubb having a tremendous day running the football in his first game back off a COVID-19 diagnosis. The Browns could never marry his running game with their passing game, so their possessions seemed to be short-circuited.
That, and rash of penalties. Constant throughout the day, but as the afternoon wore on, it became more epidemic for them than every time they had a big play. Chubb had two huge runs of 25 and 13 yards late in the game that were wiped out by flags, and those continued.
That's been a problem all season long for the Browns, and it must stop. These offside penalties, holding penalties, and illegal procedure and false start penalties must come to an end as they come down the stretch or it's really going to come back and cost them a game, and it almost did that today.
The Browns got on the board on a wonderful play by Jarvis Landry, who lined up in a wildcat position to take the snap 16 yards from the goal line. He was presumably going to throw it back to Baker Mayfield, but when nothing was there, he did what he always does: He gave them a tough run and found his way for his first touchdown of the season.
After that, they kind of hung on. Chubb caught a touchdown pass from Mayfield on a beautiful bootleg rollout to make it 13-0, and you felt it might be a blowout. But it wasn't, because the Browns — as I mentioned — could not put the Lions away.
The Browns' defense played very well in this game after a tough one against the Patriots last week, coming up with a couple of crucial interceptions. None were more crucial than the one Malcolm Smith had early on after Mayfield himself had been picked off in Browns territory. The linebacker's takeaway was able to keep Detroit off the board.
Mayfield had two interceptions in the game to go with the one touchdown pass, and again, he took a physical beating, especially late in the game when he hot hit hard and came up limping. He also heard some boo birds from the crowd, as he was errant on a number of throws.
So now the Browns move on, and they take on the Ravens coming up next Sunday night. Baltimore survived in a miraculous comeback against the Bears today, winning in the last 22 seconds of the game. You have to play right down to the final tick of the clock against the, and it's always tough winning in Baltimore.
To win on "Sunday Night Football," the Browns will need a better Baker Mayfield, a penalty-less game, and as always, they'll need a healthy appetite of Nick Chubb.
Listen to Jimmy's best calls from today's game: