Browns mudbog over Raiders 20-17

The Cleveland Browns overcame an extremely muddy field to slog their way to their second win in a row in Oakland as the Browns defeated the Raiders 20-17.
Brandon Weeden threw for 364 yards and tossed a 44 yard touchdown to Josh Gordon to lead the Browns,who drove 94 yards in the fourth quarter to score a Trent Richardson rushing touchdown to put the game away although Oakland scored a garbage time TD with a one second to go to cut into the final margin.
The now 4-8 Browns host Kansas City next week in the return of so many former Browns players and coaches to Cleveland...

Brownie Bits

1) I am not sure how to feel on this.
This could be one of those meaningless wins that costs draft position that the Browns pull off every year.
However,I do see signs of progress from the team and I feel pretty good about that.
So I'm conflicted!

2) I am not in favor of a Pat Shurmur return,no matter the final record.
Some of the losses were not his fault,but I think if another coach coached these games,the Browns might be 6-6 and that might put them in the playoff race.
But I thought Shurmur called maybe his best game of the season in the win.
Not as many glaring mistakes and a cut back in the amount of the 3rd and eight,so throw a four yard pass.....

3) Brandon Weeden had good points and bad points in the game.
His yardage was impressive and you had to like the 94 yard drive that Weeden led for the game clinching score.
But his interception in the end zone was a really bad one and he badly underthrew Josh Gordon when Gordon had the Raider corner beaten that would resulted in another long touchdown pass.

4) Speaking of Josh Gordon,I am starting to believe that Josh Gordon just might be the number one receiver that the Browns have been looking for.
The physical tools are there and Gordon certainly is a big play maker.
Imagine what he might be with an off season training program and a full training camp under him.....

5) Phil Dawson missed a field goal after hitting 29 in a row.
Tough to blame Dawson considering a bad snap and the muddy conditions.
Dawson deserves a Pro Bowl trip...

6) The Browns secondary played reasonably well in the win.
Other than a long touchdown pass to Rod Streeter,the Raider passing consisted of a bunch (14) of checkdowns to tight end Brandon Myers.
Sheldon Brown made a nice interception and knocked down four passes,while Joe Haden basically  took Denarius Moore out of the game as Moore caught just one pass against Haden and his 20 yard catch came against Brown....

7) Montario Hardesty ran for 39 yards on seven carries and for the second week in a row,showed signs of being a nice change of pace back for Trent Richardson when he needs a breather.
Hardesty was a player that I was all but ready to give up on,but the last two weeks makes me think that he could be very effective if his carry number is kept to ten or under...

8) Greg Little has gotten a rap of being a player that drops the football,but of late he has not done that.
Combine that with his very underrated blocking ability (his punishing block set up the 55 yard catch and run by Mohammed Massaquoi) and Little is making me think that if the Browns could get one more experienced receiver (I'd rather not continue to gamble on the injury prone Massaquoi) I'd feel pretty good about the receiving corps for next season...

9) The Raiders have the reputation of being a well supported team,but there were tons of empty seats and the West Coast Browns Backers were loud and very visible in the stands.
The Browns Backers is the largest fan group in the league,you think the Steelers are well supported on the road-wait until this team gets into contention,The Browns Backers will have even larger numbers for road games...

10) The offensive line is really jelling (one sack),but a surprising part of that is veteran guard John Greco.
Greco has been extremely strong in replacing Jason Pinkston at guard after Pinkston's season ending illness and he might make a case for being a starter next season...

11) After breaking a long losing streak on the road in a game that I thought might be a let down game after the win over Pittsburgh,I am moderately optimistic on the team.
I see improvement and a win over the Chiefs would give the team more wins than 2011.
I still think it would be a bad idea to let some of these things allow Pat Shurmur to stay (Remember the late season winning streak in 2009 that kept Eric Mangini around and essentially wasted a year),but there is improvement.

Photo Credit:Joshua Gunter-Cleveland Plain Dealer