CLEVELAND — It's gonna be a great Christmas, Browns fans.
The Browns are 10-4. On "Sunday Night Football," a very business-like effort, but it was a job well-done in a 20-6 win over the New York Giants.
So the concern coming into the game was definitely what happened last Monday night. The Browns left it all out on the field at FirstEnergy Stadium, only to lose a 47-42 heartbreaker to the Baltimore Ravens. You wondered, on a short week, how they would handle that. How would they handle it physically and mentally that they were right there after coming back from 14 points only to get beat on a 55-yard field goal?
Well, we got the answer on this Sunday night, because the Browns were just fine. All week long, they were saying the right things; on Sunday, they did the right things. They just went out, knew they were a better football team than the Giants, and took the game right away.
Cleveland's defense started it off with a couple of big stops on fourth down deep in their own end of the field, and then the offense went long distance, and I mean long, long distance: Two drives of 95 yards, both ending up in the end zone.
I'll tell you this: If you're going to go to the playoffs, and if you're going to make any noise in the playoffs, your quarterback has to be playing well. Baker Mayfield is playing at a level we just have not seen him ever play at.
Now, it's not that we've seen him for years and years and years, but remember, he had an exiting rookie year down the stretch only to take a step back last year. In 2020, he began kind of managing the games, but in the last three or four contests, he has been red-hot.
These numbers are incredible: 27-for-32 in the game against the Giants, 297 yards, two touchdowns. He managed the game to perfection, and he is on fire right now. The Browns have their quarterback playing very well, and that's exactly what you're going to need in these last couple of weeks in the regular season, and then (hopefully) the postseason.
It was a complete team effort; the Browns got it done. It was tough running the football against New York, with Nick Chubb held to just 50 tough yards and a touchdown and Kareem Hunt managing just 21 on seven carries, although the latter did have two big runs to give Cleveland first downs. But really, it was Mayfield, and Landry, and Hooper, and Higgins. They were all so good, and even the rookie Donovan Peoples-Jones came up with big catches. It was all set up by the guy throwing the football, who's just dialed in right now and getting better and better in this offense the longer he's in it.
So the Browns come back home, only to head back to the Meadowlands next week and take on the New York Jets. Now, I know what everybody's saying: "Dangerous game." The Jets are winless no longer, so you can't take them lightly. But Cleveland so far is led by their head coach, who lays down the temperament of his squad to just take it one day at a time, one game at a time, one opponent at a time. They'll be ready for the Jets.
The "magic number" appears to be two for the Browns. If they can win their final two games, they're in, and don't need to look at the scoreboard at all to see what's going on. But if they win next Sunday and see a loss by Miami, Baltimore, Tennessee, or Indianapolis, that combination would get them into the playoffs, too.
The best thing is, they're 10-4. Ten wins, with two to play. Ten wins for the first time since 2007. How could Kevin Stefanski not be the NFL Coach of the Year?
But as he would tell you, the job is not done yet. There's more to get, as the Browns get set for the Jets next weekend.
Before that, Merry Christmas, everybody. Who would've ever thought this would've happened in this crazy year, that the Browns would put together a season under a first-year head coach like they are doing right now?