MVN - Most Valuable Network

Browns Mess With Texas; Stay in Playoff Hunt

Is anyone else weirded out by the fact that we have a football team in Cleveland that we actually expect to win on a week to week basis now?

The Browns’ 27-17 victory this afternoon over the Houston Texans puts them at 7-4 on the year and in a very good position to make a run at a playoff berth.

The key play of the game for the Browns had to be in the fourth quarter when rookie defensive back Brandon McDonald intercepted Matt Schaub, leading to a Jamal Lewis touchdown to put the Browns up 27-10 with 5:48 remaining in the game. I haven’t heard McDonald’s name much this season, but with the Browns’ secondary banged up,  he’s definitely going to get a chance to make a name for himself in the coming weeks. He certainly helped himself today, as he made a few great tackles and looked great in coverage.

Early on, it looked like the Jamal Lewis and the Browns running game wasn’t going to be able to do much, until later on in the game when Lewis broke off a few big runs, finishing with 134 yards on the ground. All in all, it looks like Lewis is beginning to look like his former self. Today I saw him truck Houston defenders like I haven’t seen him do all season. At times, he looked like the guy that used to drag Browns defenders all over the field when he dawned a Ravens uniform. If Lewis can run the ball like he did today consistently throughout the remainder of the season, this Browns team could be very, very scary.

So after 11 weeks, the Browns stand with a 7-4 record. Probably better than any single one of us thought. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but with this weak of a schedule remaining, there is no reason this team can’t reach the playoffs. Next week, they head to the Buzzsaw to face off against the Arizona Cardinals (5-6), who lost a game today that they had in the books because of, what else, a Kurt Warner fumble in the end-zone in overtime.

Now, it is time to watch the New England Patroits on Sunday Night Football, hoping that Rnady Moss and Ben Watson can get me some much needed help in fantasy football this week. A Browns/Cardinals preview will be coming in the next few days, courtest of Mr. Beckwith.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2007 at 8:05 pm and is filed under Game Recaps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.