Nick Chubb scored on a three-yard run with nineteen seconds remaining in overtime lifted the Cleveland Browns to a 23-17 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and kept any mild heartbeat of a postseason berth alive.
Chubb finished with 116 yards rushing and Amari Cooper caught seven passes for ninety-four yards including a deep catch late in overtime that set up the game-winning score.
Cleveland improved to 4-7 with the win and will travel to Houston next week with some fellow named Watson starting and making his team and season debut at quarterback.
Brownie Bits
1) The catch by David Njoku to allow the Browns to reach overtime is one that has to be seen to be believed.
2) It's the type of play that Njoku has occasionally delivered in his seasons with the Browns and that the team hoped it would see more consistently after signing him to a long-term contract.
Njoku has so much talent and such tremendous physical attributes that he should be among Travis Kelce as the best in the league at his position.
3) And the forgotten man arrived as Anthony Schwartz suddenly appeared in the first half to score on a thirty-one-yard running play and caught a pass for seventeen yards.
Schwartz has been a disappointment since being selected in the third round in 2021 and for all of his vaunted speed, he hasn't been very good as in his kick-returning appearances either.
Perhaps Schwartz's best role may be to stop depending on him as a contributor among the team's top five receivers on the depth chart and use him as a "Swiss Army Knife" to use the current phrase for multi-dimensional contributors.
4) Myles Garrett may have re-injured his shoulder in the Browns win but he was in the Tampa Bay backfield all afternoon and finished with a sack and a half.
Garrett seemed to be pounding Tom Brady on every play in the final period and overtime and that's the type of impact that Garrett can have on a game when properly inspired.
5) Amari Cooper had a topsy-turvy game that began when a wide-open Cooper dropped a well-thrown ball from Jacoby Brissett in the fourth quarter on a fourth down.
The drop was so out of character that I was more than mildly surprised to see Cooper unable to catch the ball.
6) Cooper more than redeemed himself in overtime with a forty-five-yard catch to the Tampa three-yard line that would set up the winning touchdown.
The acquisition of Cooper certainly ranks at the top of the moves that Andrew Berry has made since taking charge.
7) Speaking of high/low, Cade York smacked another fifty-plus yard field goal and yet shanked a 39-yard try about as badly as a weekend duffer could doink a golf ball.
Such are the travails of dealing with a rookie kicker.
8) The Browns continued their pattern of first-drive dominance as they scored a touchdown on that drive and added a field goal on their next drive.
I'm not sure what it means that Kevin Stefanski has such control over the planned drives and struggles on the fly on play calling thereafter but the data on this is building in a particular direction.
9) I was surprised that Kevin Stefanski didn't go for the two-point conversion after David Njoku's touchdown reception, not that kicking the extra point wasn't the right call but considering Stefanski's reliance on analytical projections that going for two seemed to be more of what I expected from him.
10) The Browns now will own a unique note in football annuals.
The win was the first time that Tom Brady led by seven points or more with one minute remaining in the game and lost.
11) Jacoby Brissett was better than the Browns could have expected in his eleven games as the starter.
The Browns' 4-7 record under Brissett wasn't what they needed or hoped for when the handover to DeShaun Watson takes place but give the Browns a win that they literally handed to the Jets and 5-6 would have been more in the range hoped for.
Brissett wasn't great and some of his play showed why he has been a career backup but his play never reached the level of awfulness that cost the Browns games, which is more than they could have asked for.
Jacoby Brissett turned out to be what the Browns needed, a steady hand that may not have won as many games as hoped but blended a team with some class and professionalism that badly needed it.
12) And now we start seeing just what the Browns traded three first-round picks for in DeShaun Watson.
Don't expect miracles right away, although I do expect a win in his game against the terrible Texans but this will be a pre- pre-season of sorts to prepare Watson for what is hoped to be an excellent season next year.
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