With the bye week ahead of us, it will be nice to enjoy the Browns' victory over the New Orleans Saints for the next two weeks. I thought that other Week 7 NFL oddities, such as the Raiders putting up 59 points, the ending to the Steelers-Dolphins game, or the unusual shootout between the Bills and the Ravens, would overshadow Cleveland's upset victory over Drew Brees and company. I was wrong; Cleveland is getting quite a bit of recognition. Let's take a look, starting with Sports Illustrated's Peter King:
Defensive Players of the Week (note: DeAngelo Hall was also one)
David Bowens, LB, Cleveland.
The career journeyman, in the span of 29 minutes, picked off Brees twice and returned both to the house. I can guarantee you that no stranger sentence will ever be written about the career of a backup front-seven player. Drew Brees gave Bowens two pick-sixes, from 30 and 64 yards. Beyond amazing.
Special Teams Player of the Week
Reggie Hodges, P, Cleveland.
Hard for a punter to have a better day. His 68-yard run with a fake punt was 50 yards longer than any other Cleveland offensive play of the day. He dropped two of his four punts inside the 20 and had a longer net average, 42.3-yards, than gross (42.0). He held for kicks.
Coaching Decision of the Week
Cleveland defensive coordinator Rob Ryan turning Scott Fujita loose in his old town.
Midway through the first quarter, Ryan called for Fujita, lined up at the right outside linebacker, to take on the tight end or back on a blitz call. Fujita, with an emotional homecoming game at the Superdome, blew through Dave Thomas and sacked old friend Brees for a 10-yard loss, helping set the table for a stunning victory by Cleveland. Ryan knew Fujita, one of the Super Bowl heroes in New Orleans last year, would be inspired to play a great game, so he sent him early and was rewarded.
The next featured media member is Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson. His entire introduction was dedicated to discussing the Saints losing to the Browns, but it was focused on the Saints rather than Cleveland. Later on, he had some kind words for the Browns:
• Cleveland Browns linebacker David Bowens It’s not often you’ll see a converted defensive end intercept two passes for touchdowns in a game. And I’m not sure there has been a bigger upset this season than the one Bowens and the Browns pulled off against New Orleans on the road. I’m still not buying Rob Ryan as a potential head coaching candidate, but he called a good game Sunday. The Saints made critical errors that killed rhythm all day, and rarely had a chance to set up the downfield passing game.
Loved: The 68-yard pickup on a fake by Cleveland punter
Reggie Hodges(notes) in the second quarter against New Orleans, helping to build a stunning 20-3 halftime lead for the Browns. You have to love Cleveland being aggressive and creative against the Saints. Amazingly, the Browns don’t look like a pushover anymore.
Here is Yahoo Sports' Michael Silver, who detailed Scott Fujita's return to New Orleans:
• Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita knew his return to New Orleans would be emotional, so upon his arrival in the Big Easy Saturday he made a point of taking teammate Eric Barton on a power tour of his old ‘hood in the city’s Warehouse District. They paid quick visits to his favorite sushi spot, Rock-N-Sake, and his favorite watering hole, Lucy’s Retired Surfer Bar and Restaurant, along with the fashionable condo that Fujita and his wife, Jaclyn, still own. "That actually kind of helped," he said Sunday night. "I was able to experience the emotion then, so when I got to the game it was more about football."
Fujita then proceeded to play some very good football against his former team – "He balled out and was all over the ball," teammate Alex Mack said – registering an interception and sack of buddy Drew Brees while resisting the compulsion to talk trash. Most important, the Browns stunned the defending Super Bowl champs 30-17 to improve to 2-5. "It’s been hard for us to finish games," an exhausted Fujita said upon his return to Cleveland late Sunday night. "This time we closed it out. Hopefully we can start to get something rolling."
Next up is Sports Illustrated's Don Banks in his weekly Snap Judgments column:
• And speaking of superstar quarterbacks who had disappointing days, raise your hand if you foresaw Drew Brees and Co. finding a way to lose in blowout fashion to Browns rookie quarterback Colt McCoy in just his second career start.
Brees threw four interceptions and was sacked three times, with two of the picks (from 64 and 30 yards) being returned for touchdowns by 12th-year linebacker David Bowens. Not that they were rare or anything, but in the first 11-plus seasons of his NFL career, Bowens had just two other interceptions, one each in 2008 and 2009. Oh, and Brees already has 10 interceptions this season after totaling just 11 of all last year.
• It wasn't exactly Favre returning to Lambeau, but no one enjoyed the Browns upset at New Orleans more than Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita. The former Saints defensive leader, who signed as a free agent with the Browns in March, had one of the four interceptions of Brees. But maybe Fujita's biggest contribution for Cleveland came last week, in sharing secrets of how to prepare for Brees and where the weak spots in his game might be.
• The Jets and Rex Ryan were off this week, but wouldn't you know a Ryan was still front and center in Week 7. Browns defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, Rex's twin brother, had a great game plan for playing the Saints, and his postgame Gatorade shower was richly deserved.
The Browns really harassed Brees into multiple mistakes, and made him look flustered for much of the game. It was the first time in a long time that I can remember thinking that Brees' lack of prototypical NFL quarterback height really hurt him in a game.
John Clayton briefly mentions Cleveland throughout his column, but its basically the same stuff listed above. It'll be interesting to see if Cleveland shoots up on the power rankings charts on Tuesday.
all i have to say is, that was a hell of a game yesterday. i think that shows that we might do a little better than people expect with this meat of the schedule. go browns!!!
findlaybrownslover - October 25, 2010
I think we could all use a little basking in this afterglow. It’s been a frustrating season considering we’ve had leads/been extremely competitive in every single game and have come up with only 2 wins.
I honestly believe the “process” is working and it won’t be too long before the sportswriters of the world will not use the words “shocking” or “surprising” when we beat a team like the Saints. We’re learning how to close out some games here (thanks Peyton Hillis and our defense!) and I think when we don’t turn the ball over or make stupid mistakes, we have a chance to beat any team this year.
DisplacedBuckeye - October 25, 2010
So, this is how I look at it.
After a competitive showing against the #1 defense and a blowout win against the Super Bowl champs, we have a chance to win any and all games the rest of the season. Everything seems to finally be coming together.
SpecialBrownie - October 25, 2010
I agree. If they beat the Saints, why shouldn’t they be capable of beating the Pats or Jets? Both games are at home, which also helps.
I could still see this team going 7-9.
emily522 - October 25, 2010
If I could only have one more win this year — the Jets would be high on my list (though Pittsburgh and the illegitimate franchise of Baltimore would probably win out).
TheDriveStillHurts - October 25, 2010
I still think 5 with an outside chance at 6 at the end of the season. We might lose 1 or 2 ugly games the rest of the way where everyone starts complaining again, but we should be competitive in most of the remaining games.
Roger Dorn - October 25, 2010
Yeah. I could see us going 7-9, but I think there will be some TB/KC-like games when we don’t get the job done. 5-11 or 6-10 is probably more realistic.
emily522 - October 25, 2010
I’m sticking with my 10 win prediction.
golanbatrac - October 25, 2010
yup.
Dawg Nuts - October 25, 2010
I’m still at 11-5 thank you.
SpecialBrownie - October 25, 2010
I’m sticking to my guns too.
North Coast Flea - October 25, 2010
Speaking of the PIT-MIA game, how is a fumble into the endzone not ruled either a TD or a touchback? How could it possibly be loss of down at the 1-yard line?
Has this been covered in another thread?
JulioBernazard - October 25, 2010
I believe they didn’t know who recovered it, (as if the Dolphin that handed the ball to the ref left any doubt.) so they gave the ball back to the Steelers where Ben fumbled it, which was outside of the endzone.
North Coast Flea - October 25, 2010
They also must be able to determine this on the replay if I remember correctly.
rufio - October 26, 2010
I believe an offensive player may not fumble a ball forward into the end zone for a TD.
notthatnoise - October 25, 2010
I think that rule is only on fourth down.
Bernie19Kosar - October 26, 2010
Or within the 2 minute.
SpecialBrownie - October 26, 2010
jeeze what ridiculous rules the NFL has.
notthatnoise - October 27, 2010
All the better to screw you over with, my dear!
Simmsinns - October 27, 2010
Because it’s the Steelers. They always get the benefit of strange officiating calls.
woodsmeister - October 26, 2010
Good game from the entire team this week. They have been putting forth the effort all year and it was good to see the team get rewarded with a big win. I can completely understand the optimism in the posts since the game. It would be interesting to go back and read what fans thought after the Giants game of 2 years ago. I’m sure it would be much the same. But the air can go out of the tires just as fast or faster than you put it in. This is definitely one of those wins in which everything went the Browns way from the bounce of the ball, to penalties, to perfect execution of trick plays.
I expected us to win a game that everyone thought we should lose and this was it. That was included in my 4-12 prediction before this game and at this point I’ve got to stick with that.
I think the rest of our opponents this year will approach the games with us with a lot more respect. They’ll prepare with more seriousness knowing that the Browns will leave everything on the field and don’t have a lot to lose. I was telling someone today “The Browns will be bad until they are good” and you won’t know that until you are looking back after an 11 and 5 season to a time like right now. I hope this is the game that signifies the turn around. I see a lot to be optimistic about but I can’t see this win as anything but an anomaly given the number of really strange plays and unusual occurrences. We have to remember that the Saints lost to the Jags and have been really inconsistent all year. I hand it to the team for a great victory but I’m not willing to see this as the turn around we have all been waiting for until they can string together a few victories in a row against decent teams. Victories in the next two games would really make me a believer and I’ll bet those opponents are looking at those next two games in a completely different way than they would have a week ago.
Brownsyup - October 25, 2010
I think when you look at this game on the heels of McCoy’s passing last week vs. the steelers, there is definitely cause to be optimistic. I’m looking forward to an 11-5 season until the math proves me wrong.
JustBob - October 25, 2010
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