by Last year head coach Freddie Kitchen used the TECMO Bowl 91 playbook. This year, Kevin Stefanski is using the Madden 2020 Playbook and has it on Expert level!
Simply unreal as the Browns exploded for a 49-38 dramatic victory. Perhaps most impressive is that they put up the 49 points without their best player, Nick Chubb, who got hurt early on.
The rumors of the broken relationship of Baker Mayfield and OBJ may have been greatly exaggerated as both men worked well today. Odell went off for 81 yards on 5 catches, scoring twice. He also helped out big on the ground with 73 yards on two carries, including the 50-yard touchdown run to seal the win.
Baker was once again smart and careful with the ball, not turning it over. He threw for 165 yards on 19 of 30 passing, with 2 touchdowns. This is the Baker Mayfield who is letting the game come to him, not forcing the ball, and that will lead to wins.
How big does the Kareem Hunt signing look now? Without the dynamic Chubb, Hunt stepped up huge with 71 yards on 11 carries scoring twice. Little used D’Ernest Johnson also stepped up for 95 yards on a game high 13 carries. Chubb had rumbled for 43 yards on 6 carries before getting dinged.
Only one major problem for Cleveland simply can’t be covered up, they may have the very worst secondary in the NFL. Prescott lit them up for 502 yards and 4 touchdowns. They also gave up 3 two point conversions in one quarter.
After forcing the Cowboys to punt on their opening possession, the Browns came out soaring and thinking big. A few runs by Nick Chubb set the tone, as he continued to look impressive early on before the injury. Then they struck big on a double reverse that saw Chubb flip it to Jarvis Landry, who promptly launched a 37-yard touchdown pass to OBJ to put Cleveland up 7-0 minutes into the game.
From there, the rest of the first quarter was all Dallas lighting up the Browns secondary who appeared to be clueless. They simply couldn’t cover anyone and got completely embarrassed. Dak Prescott used weak coverage and an accurate arm to connect with the sensational rookie CeeDee Lamb from 43 yards out. No Brown was anywhere near Lamb, the incredible rookie out of Oklahoma.
From there the Browns struggled to move the ball and had to punt to Dallas. Prescott and the Cowboys wasted no time chewing up more yardage and flying down the field again, this time it was Prescott hooking up with Amari Cooper from 20 yards out to score. The pass literally threaded the needle as two Browns defenders collided with each other trying to cover Cooper. From there however, the remainder of the first half was all Browns.
After Nick Chubb got knocked out of the game on the next possession, it looked like certain doom for the Browns, but they shocked everyone by not crumbling. If Freddie Kitchens was still the coach of this team, they would have crumbled like a deck of cards. Instead, this time, they overcame the adversity and went on to score the next 34 points!
They exploded for 24 straight points to close out and dominate the second quarter. Kareem Hunt began to step up at running back and help move the ball. Mayfield would cash in by hitting Odell Beckham Jr in the corner of the endzone to tie the game at 14.
After a turnover, the Browns would get the ball back and score quickly. This time on a 1-yard rollout at the goal line as Mayfield found Austin Hooper as they reclaimed the lead at 21-14. They weren’t nearly done as following another Cowboys fumble, they scored again on a Kareem Hunt 2-yard rumble to extend the lead to 28-14. Cody Parkey would close out the first half with a 37-yard Field goal to hand the Browns a commanding 31-14 lead at the break.
The Browns got the ball first to start the second half and went right back to work. This time it was Hunt yet again capping off a 5-minute drive with points. Hunt strolled in from 14 yards out as it became a blowout at 38 -14. The Orange and Brown weren’t done yet however, as Cody Parkey connected on a 44 yard field goal to end the third quarter and advance the lead to 41-14.
The Cowboys furious fourth rally would see 3 touchdowns and three two-point conversions to cut the lead to 41-38 and make everyone nervous. The Browns responded one more time with OBJ taking a reverse run 50 yards to pay dirt to seal it.
The Browns have now won three straight and will look to stay hot next week against Indianapolis.
