Cleveland Browns Most Memorable Prime Time Wins

Even with the gigantic distractions that the Gordon drug suspension caused and the Manziel dram that seemed to be I the press every single day with something stupid, including him flicking off opposing fans during a preseason game in Washington.  On August 22, 2014, Manziel was fined $12,000 by the NFL for a hand gesture that he made in the preseason loss.  First year head coach Mike Pettine had seen enough and named fellow quarterback Brian Hoyer the starter over Manziel for the opening regular-season.

Like the 2007 Cleveland Browns that won 10 games, the 2014 Cleveland Browns also lost their opening game to Pittsburgh before beginning a solid run to contend for an AFC North Crown.  The Browns bounced back from heartbreaking losses to Pittsburgh and Baltimore to start the season 5-3 and looked impressive doing it.  Though those first 8 games, Hoyer threw for over 2,000 yards, nearly double-digit touchdowns and had the Browns contending.  The run included a 21-point fourth quarter rally to beat Tennessee on the road, and a blowout victory over Pittsburgh.

The Johnny Johnny chants had almost completely died down, and Hoyer was the man when Cleveland headed to Cincinnati for a Thursday night showdown. The Bengals had also started the season, 5-2-1 at the midseason mark and many felt were looking right past Cleveland to future matchups with Pittsburgh and Baltimore.  They didn’t take the Browns and Brian Hoyer serious and they paid for it as it was all Orange and Brown in a 24-3 blowout!

The Browns held Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton to a humiliating 10 of 33 passing for a paltry 86 yards and 3 interceptions.  The Browns defense was a thing of beauty, even if Justin Gilbert had nothing to do with it. The three headed rushing monster of Terrence West, Isiah Crowell and Ben Tate combined for 170 yards on the ground.  The stout running game took the pressure off of Hoyer who went 15 of 23 for 198 yards.

In what could only be described as irony was that this game took place on a Thursday Night in front of the same crew that saw Weeden replace Hoyer for a big victory the year before.  This time around it was Deon Sanders heaping praise on Hoyer and stating that it should be him, and not Manziel getting the big money from the Browns and a long-term contract.  The irony of the comments from Sanders were off the page!

Hoyer had the Browns at 6-3 after that impressive Thursday Night win, but Ray Farmer, Jimmy Haslam and Mike Pettine couldn’t resist the Manziel hype too much later and Hoyer was benched by Week 13 with the Browns at 7-6 and still in contention.  Manziel would take the team and season right down the toilet and he decided partying with Josh Gordon was more important that showing up to the game on time and also knowing any of the playbook.

The Browns would finish 7-10 and Josh Gordon was suspended again before the season could even finish. On December 27, 2014, exactly one year removed from being selected into the Pro Bowl, the Browns suspended Gordon from the final game of the season due to a violation of team rules.  The violation being that he and Manziel decided to get together and have some drug alcohol mix called, “purple drank”.

It wasn’t much longer until Gordon was suspended for the entire 2015 season due to violating the league’s substance abuse policy.  Gordon entered the NFL’s substance abuse program after pleading guilty to a driving while impaired charge in September 2014 and was prohibited from consuming alcohol during his time in the program.  The suspension was for one year starting on February 3, 2015, and he was not eligible to return until the start of the 2016 season.

Following the 2015 season, his request to be reinstated was denied in March when it was reported that he had failed another drug test.  It simple wasn’t meant to be for Gordon in Cleveland, or anywhere else for that matter as the rest of his career was marred by drug issues.

That 2014 NFL Draft messed the Browns up so badly that they wouldn’t start winning Primetime Games again until Baker Mayfield showed up in 2018 and they seemed to get games on either Monday Night, Thursday Night, Saturday Night or Sunday on a regular basis.

A few of those highlights include Bakers regular season debut in 2018 versus the New York Jets on a Thursday night with color rush jerseys.  The 2018 victory at Denver on a Sunday night that moved the Browns to 6-7-1 and gave them an outside chance at the playoffs.

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