Week 15 Game Changing Plays: Browns Continue To Create Miracles
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Browns QB Joe Flacco
On four different occasions this season, the Cleveland Browns have found themselves in serious jeopardy.
Against the Ravens, against the 49ers, against the Colts, and now this week against the Bears, they found themselves below a 15% chance to win. And with Cleveland scrapping in the midst of the wildcard race, every win is massively important to them. Four times this season, they looked like they were about to drop a hugely important game.
And four times this year, they’ve rallied back to win.
While Joe Flacco and the offense were, at times, shaky during the first three quarters of the game, Cleveland put it together when it counted. Flacco threw for 212 yards in the fourth quarter alone, the most for any Browns quarterback as far back as that stat exists, as Cleveland rallied back from a 17-7 deficit to beat the Chicago Bears 20-17. Cleveland really can’t afford to keep digging these massive holes and finding their way out, but at the end of the day, a win is a win. And Cleveland has four that looked like longshots.
We’ll get into the Browns comeback and who really is responsible in a moment, but first, let’s look at the other Game Changing Plays of Week 15.
49ers Defense Strikes Gold
The win puts the 49ers on the cusp of clinching home field advantage in the NFC; they can do it next week if the Seahawks upset the Eagles tonight. This also officially eliminates the Cardinals from the postseason.
Leaving on a Jetplane
It’s been a long, painful year at quarterback for the New York Jets. This week was not an exception to the rule, as first Zach Wilson and then Trevor Siemian was hurried and harried throughout by a Miami team that wanted to make another statement. Aaron Rodgers had been making noise about coming back to finish the season, but with this loss, the Jets were mathematically eliminated from the postseason. Rodgers probably isn’t in a hurry to come back and play in the first two games between eliminated teams, when the Jets take on the Commanders next week or the Patriots in Week 18. But he totally could have! Just ask him! Why would he possibly try to string people along there?
As for the Dolphins, the win keeps them in control of their own fate for the bye week in the AFC, with a big showdown against Baltimore coming in a couple of weeks. The Dolphins have yet to beat a really good team, but they’re doing what they need to do against the dregs, so they’ll get another shot.
Alright, Fine, I’ll Believe In Jake Browning.
One good game is a fluke. Two good games is a trend. Three good games in a row? Alright, I guess I’ll start believing in this Jake Browning character, as the Bengals have run themselves back into playoff position — not what anyone was expecting when Joe Burrow went down for the season! Browning hasn’t just been good for a backup, like Joe Flacco, or a fun story like Tommy DeVito. While Browning’s performance this weekend felt more like a solid QB2 rather than a true starter, that’s still leaps and bounds better than you could have expected from a former UDFA who had never taken a regular season snap before this season.
Of course, it’s fair to acknowledge that Browning has had a wee bit of help from his skill position players.
But then, that’s the point, isn’t it? Surround your players with as much talent as possible, so when they DO make a play, they get every drop out of it. Tee Higgins’ stretching, reaching touchdown at the end of regulation is one of the most impressive plays of the year. Should we dock Browning because Higgins made a play? That’d be ridiculous.
Higgins’ touchdown tied the game in regulation, and then Browning eventually found Tyler Boyd on a deep shot in overtime to set up the game-winning field goal. The AFC is crammed enough at the moment that the win is the difference between Cincinnati sitting in the sixth seed and being 11th, so it’s fair to say it was slightly important Cincinnati come out on top here.
Note to Jacksonville: Try Scoring Points
No, no, through the uprights.
No, no, hold on to the football.
No, no, score before the clock hits 0:00.
The Jaguars moved the ball well against the Ravens on Sunday night, especially in the first half, but they couldn’t capitalize. At all. They were shut out in the first half, despite four of their five drives either ending with a field goal attempt or with the ball in the red zone. In a game where the Ravens didn’t exactly explode offensively themselves and had a little trouble slamming the door at the end, we might have seen a different result of Jacksonville could have scored any sort of points, whatsoever. Welp.
The win keeps the Ravens in first place in the AFC, as they prepare for the #1 v. #1 showdown with the 49ers next week and the first-place fight for the conference with the Dolphins the week after. As for the Jaguars? A once nigh-assured division title now sees them in a three-way tie atop the AFC South, albeit with a significant tiebreaker edge. They should be fine. Probably. But they keep creeping that door more and more open, and the Colts and Texans are slinking back up…
Cleveland Rocks
First, there was the false comeback. Down 17 to 7 late in the third quarter, the Browns punted, but Trent Taylor gave them an opening.
This is where normal comeback stories would begin with “and then the Browns converted that gift into points, and the fight was on”. But this is not a normal comeback story, and Joe Flacco was intercepted on the very next play — his third of the game, and one that should have ended things right then and there.
But the Browns defense kept throwing up stop after stop after stop. Chicago was 4-for-18 on third downs on the day, and 0-for-2 on fourth downs. The Browns defense kept the Bears from adding anything to their lead, while the offense slowly chipped away. A fourth-down stop led to a field goal early in the fourth, but exchanges of punts left the Browns down a touchdown with less than four minutes to go. Screw it, Amari’s down there, right?
The Browns were going to be in fifth place either way, thanks to the results around the league. But this gives them a one-game cushion. That, plus their strong tiebreakers, means they could clinch the postseason as early as Week 16. Not bad for a team down to their fourth quarterback, huh?
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