Josh McCown Saves Cleveland Browns’ Season

The Cleveland Browns are undeniably better than the Baltimore Ravens. Fans of the Browns have not been able to make this boast since the end of the 2007 National Football League regular season. Cleveland can thank journeyman veteran quarterback Josh McCown for that and for the team’s 33-30 win over the Ravens on Sunday.

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I buried the 2015 Browns after last Sunday’s loss at the San Diego Chargers. I wasn’t alone in doing so, something known by those who listen to local Cleveland sports talk radio. A Browns team that had been built on what was supposed to be a strong rushing attack and a defense advertised as one of the top units in all of the NFL had once again disappeared with a game on the line. The Browns, at 1-3 after another loss, looked like a team that would struggle to defeat even an average opponent. There was little hope.

"Why should anybody believe that Antonio Brown and the Pittsburgh Steelers won’t torch the defense of the Browns once QB Ben Roethlisberger is healthy? Why wouldn’t you start WR A.J. Green in your weekly fantasy football competitions when the Browns take on the Cincinnati Bengals? Even a non-elite Joe Flacco should be able to guide the Ravens to a relatively easy victory against the Cleveland defense. Only four games have been played, and already football fans in northeast Ohio can start counting down the days until the Cleveland Cavaliers open up their National Basketball Association season."

The Browns were left for dead. Enter McCown, who revived Cleveland in what could have been his last half as a starter before he was replaced by his well-known backup.

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Cleveland fans who chose to do something else with their time halfway through the third quarter could not have been blamed for making that decision. The Ravens had just expanded their lead to 21-9. McCown and the Browns were seemingly allergic to finding the end zone and to scoring touchdowns. Cleveland’s offense was nevertheless a non-factor, because the team’s defense gave zero indication that it was going to make a stop if needed.

McCown then produced an answer. A 15-yard pass play from McCown to Gary Barnidge put the Browns in the red zone, but it seemed as if the drive had stalled after an incomplete pass on third down. Linebacker Jason Babin, who wasn’t even mentioned in post-game box scores, gifted the Browns with at least one more play because of a silly penalty (Illegal Use of Hands). McCown responded by by scrambling for 10 yards and a touchdown the next time he took a snap.

Good fortune smiled upon McCown and the Browns on their next drive. McCown connected on a 56-yard bomb to wide receiver Taylor Gabriel, a play that had Cleveland 23 yards away from the end zone. The 36-year-old journeyman QB then did the unthinkable just as he was about to get sacked. He tossed a prayer straight up into the air off of his back foot. It is a pass that no NFL quarterback can make in any situation.

Unless Barnidge is there to trap the ball between his legs.

Cleveland’s defense folded in the second half of the final quarter of play once again, surrendering a touchdown with under three minutes left on the clock. A 27-22 deficit could have represented just another blown game for the Browns. McCown would have none of it, as he immediately took the Browns down the field on completions to WR Andrew Hawkins and Barnidge. Running back Isaiah Crowell twice helped McCown from there. Crowell picked up 18 yards on the ground, and he then took a screen pass 22 yards for a touchdown.

The Cleveland defense bent to the point that the Ravens were at the 10-yard line of the Browns with 82 seconds remaining. That defense that has been a sieve time and time again this season held the Ravens to a field goal, the best stand that unit has made this fall. A three-and-out stop from Cleveland in overtime gave McCown and the offense of the Browns a chance to win the game. McCown, who has to embrace each of these opportunities that he gets before he rides off into the sunset, put the game away.

McCown was cool and calm in the overtime period. He found Barnidge for 19 yards on a third-and-short. McCown completed all four of his attempts, the last of which put the Browns in field goal range. One more first down turned that kick into a chip shot for Travis Coons, who made no mistake in putting his fourth and final FG of the day between the uprights. Game over, and season saved for the Browns.

The stats tell of McCown’s heroics against the Ravens. He completed 36 of his 51 passes. The 457 passing yards was a single-game record for the Browns, a franchise that has not had prolific play from quarterbacks over the years. As great as all of that are the two most-important stats McCown produced versus the Ravens: McCown had 0 turnovers, and he now has 1 win as a starting quarterback for the Browns.

Nobody in Cleveland should begin thinking about planning any February parades after Sunday’s events. The Ravens are currently a beaten-up and beaten-down team, and Baltimore was still five yards away from beating the Browns. McCown was visibly limping on the field as he handed the ball off on the final plays of overtime. He will face a menacing Denver Broncos pass rush next Sunday, one that may knock the veteran out of the game and into retirement if McCown is asked to throw the ball 50 times.

The Browns don’t have a QB in the future in McCown. That’s fine. What he has proven over his last eight quarters of play is that McCown is the Cleveland QB for the now. That Johnny Manziel has not been mentioned in this piece until now — and he is only being mentioned to note the lack of mention — is a testament to how much McCown has exceeded expectations.

Defenses are going to make adjustments. Crowell and Duke Johnson averaging 3.1 yards per carry as the duo of running backs did against the Ravens is not going to cut it long-term. The hope for Cleveland is that McCown will continue to roll with the punches and rise up when it appears as if the Browns are headed toward a certain loss. Josh McCown is the biggest play-maker on the offense of the Browns as of October 11.

Football can be a funny game.

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