{"id":99259,"date":"2020-12-07T16:55:21","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T21:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=99259"},"modified":"2020-12-08T23:08:50","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T04:08:50","slug":"cleveland-browns-finally-legitimate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/12\/07\/cleveland-browns-finally-legitimate\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Browns Are Finally Legitimate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Browns<\/a> are finally legitimate. They were already the real deal a few weeks back, but this far into the season, anyone who refused to believe the hype must concede.<\/p>\n

The Cleveland Browns Are Finally Legitimate<\/h2>\n

As Jarrett Cole<\/a><\/strong> of USA Today aptly said, \u201cThese are not the same ole Browns that cousin, sister, auntie, or daddy might have howled for.\u201d Indeed, these are the best Browns you\u2019ve seen since 2007. The first winning season for the franchise in 13 years cannot be scoffed at. The Browns are 9-3. Nine and three. Imagine. Wait, you don\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n

Going in the Right Direction<\/h3>\n

The previously hot Tennessee Titans<\/a> may have lost to the Browns by six points, but let\u2019s remember that at halftime, Cleveland had blasted themselves to a 38-7 lead. Those 38 points were the most ever<\/a> in the first half by the franchise.<\/p>\n

Baker Mayfield<\/a> <\/strong>earlier in the season had looked scarily like he was repeating 2019. But the fire is back. He became the first Browns quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in a first half since Otto Graham<\/a> <\/strong>69 years ago. \u201cWe\u2019re trending in the right direction,\u201d he said. Such a simple statement considering the team is putting their loyal and passionate fans out of their years-long misery.<\/p>\n

The Right Formula<\/h3>\n

It isn\u2019t far from anyone\u2019s minds \u2013 2019 was meant to be the year everything changed. Odell Beckham<\/a> Jr.<\/strong> was the final piece of the puzzle that already had Mayfield, Myles Garrett<\/a>, Nick Chubb<\/a>,<\/strong> and Jarvis Landry<\/a><\/strong> in place. But their 6-10 season meant general manager John Dorsey<\/a> <\/strong>and head coach Freddie Kitchens<\/strong> had to exit.<\/p>\n

Now with general manager Andrew Berry<\/strong> and offensive-minded head coach Kevin Stefanski<\/strong>, the Browns are at long last living up to the hype that started last year.<\/p>\n

There have been questions about the quality of their wins<\/a>. 7-0 against under-.500 teams. Now they\u2019ve beaten two teams with a winning record. Mayfield said, \u201cWe\u2019ve been building up\u2026 we\u2019re taking care of it inside the building.\u201d In other words, back off and let them do their thing? Respect.<\/p>\n

A Balanced Team Around a Matured Mayfield<\/h3>\n

He echoes Stefanski in their \u201cone game at a time\u201d approach. Which is exactly the right thing to do when faced with constant criticism from people who are just waiting for the Browns to trip up. Mayfield has lost his cockiness and brashness. He\u2019s grounded now.<\/p>\n

He finally cracked 300 yards passing this season (334) in this game. He did that with the help of possibly the best running back duo in the league right now. Chubb and Kareem Hunt<\/a><\/strong> may be the first set in the franchise since 1985 to both notch a 1,000-yard season.<\/p>\n

Stefanski dug deep into the playbook for a strategy very unlike his usual run-first attack. On each of the team\u2019s first five possessions, he called for passes over runs. On five drives, there were 22 passes and only 11 rushing attempts. A reverse pass, a faked handoff, some swift touchdown passes to Kendall Lamm<\/a><\/strong> and Donovan Peoples-Jones<\/a><\/strong>, Garrett with some pass-rush heat. Good momentum, everything worked.<\/p>\n

The Browns hold the AFC\u2019s top wild-card slot. Even if they don\u2019t win every one of their last four games, they\u2019ll likely clinch a playoff berth. The strategies they\u2019ve been using lately have worked for the most part. They just need to make sure they keep working.<\/p>\n

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The Cleveland Browns are finally legitimate. They were already the real deal a few weeks back, but this far into the season, anyone who refused to believe the hype must concede. The Cleveland Browns Are Finally Legitimate As Jarrett Cole of USA Today aptly said, \u201cThese are not the same ole Browns that cousin, sister, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2583,"featured_media":99301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,54,36],"tags":[175,3418,264,61,635,1472,40,970,3584,514],"class_list":["post-99259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-browns","category-editorials","category-nfl-news","tag-afc-north","tag-baker-mayfield","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-football","tag-jarvis-landry","tag-myles-garrett","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-playoffs","tag-nick-chubb","tag-odell-beckham-jr"],"modified_by":"Yvonne Hew","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2583"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}