If You Believe In Moral Victories, Sunday Was One

The Browns traveled to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers to open up the 2014 season. As we all know, Cleveland has had many ups and downs leading to the glorious first kickoff of the season, so the expectations were more bleak than bold.

It’s funny, because whenever someone asked me about the game. My response would be, “I just hope we don’t, after the game is over, say ‘I thought it was going to be bad, but not THAT bad.”‘

For the first half, it was THAT bad…and then some.

To start, the defense looked like a high school team. They allowed Big Ben and the rest of the Steelers offense to trudge down the field like it was a practice game. Roethlisberger had all the time in the world, and was able to hit his receivers like dinner on a platter for big gains. When he was under duress, the big fella was able to spin his way off tacklers too.

Running the ball, Pittsburgh had much of the same success. Le’Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount were able to run downhill at will. The Browns tackling was horrible, and it seemed to take 3-4 players to bring down a Steeler each and every play.

On our side of the ball, quarterback Brian Hoyer was looking like the backup all his haters had dubbed him to be. He acted unsure of himself, and had absolutely no confidence at all. His timing and communication with his receivers was off, and the Browns were simply unable to move to football throughout the whole entire half.

So at halftime, the score had the Steelers on top 27-3, and everyone was already throwing this season into the garbage. The team looked terrible, very dysfunctional, but could be best described as “the same as every other Browns team since 1999.”

But then, something amazing happened. The team totally turned it around.

Really, if you believe in moral victories, today was one of them. A big one at that.

The Browns came out in the second half with a sense of purpose unlike any other I’ve ever seen. It started with a quick touchdown drive from Brian Hoyer who actually looked like he deserved the starting job. Then, the defense was able to turn it on, stopping Pittsburgh for a quick three and out.

That set the tone for the entire second half.

It was a pattern – Browns score, quickly stop the Steelers. Browns score, quickly stop the Steelers.

Balls were hitting their marks, running backs were finding lanes, and everything was clicking beautifully.

Truly the smartest adjustment of the second half was having quarterback Brian Hoyer work out of a no-huddle offense. This mechanism kept the Steelers defense on their toes, and gave the Browns a much need pace/rhythm.

True, there were some hiccups late in the 4th quarter, but that’s the key. The 4th quarter was actually the most relevant part of the football team. The Browns fought, but ended up losing by a score of 30-27 on a heartbreaking game winning kick by Shaun Suisham.

After 30 minutes of football, no one in their right mind gave the Browns a chance. But they were right there.

POST GAME:

Amazingly, I saw fans in a complete disarray about the loss. I understand where they are coming from. It’s simply a tally in the loss column because the Steelers finished the game with more points than us. However, it’s very stupid for anyone to think that getting blown out by 30 points doesn’t have a carry-over effect.

From the ride home, to team meals, to practices this upcoming week.

Because of the amazing “almost comeback,” there will be a sense of confidence amongst the Browns players that would have been completely absent if the team just quit after that abysmal first half. It will lead to a more effective practice, and better preparation for the first home game against the New Orleans Saints next Sunday.

So sure, a loss is a loss. And yeah, the Browns should have ended up winning that game. But come on now. The way they played in most of that second half was nothing short of magical. I recognized it, you witnessed it and you better believe the players and coaching staff saw it too.

The Browns are 0-1, no one can change that. But what happened in that second half should not be just thrown away because of the loss. It’s going to make an impact as we head into next week’s matchup against the Saints. And I bet you the carry-over effect ends up winning us some games.

Keep the faith. Keep believing in this team.

-Zach Shafron

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