Cleveland Browns: Jamal Lewis Leads 20-12 Victory over Cincinnati Bengals

by Jerod Morris
I just got back from watching the first win of the season for the Cleveland Browns at the Dallas-area Browns Backers. Both teams came in at 0-3, and played a pretty ugly game overall, but the Browns prevailed 20-12.

There was plenty of speculation entering the game that if Derek Anderson struggled the Browns might turn to Brady Quinn. Well, Derek Anderson did struggle, and mightily, through the fist three quarters of action. Romeo Crennel stuck with his embattled QB though, and Derek paid him back for his trust by coming through with two TD drives in the 4th quarter.

The numbers for Derek Anderson on the day were nothing spectacular: 15-24, 138 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. But on the biggest drive of the season at the beginning of the 4th quarter, Derek found Braylon Edwards in the end zone for a potentially season-changing TD.

Look, I know that this game was against Cincinnati, and that Cincinnati pretty much stinks, and that a really good team might not have struggled so much to win (although I think the Giants are a pretty good team and they struggled to beat Cincinnati at home!). But when you’re 0-3, and your offense has looked inept, and your stars are bickering at eachother on the sideline, and your fans are booing the starting QB every time they show his picture on TV (as was happening at the Browns backers), anything positive is huge.

And today’s win was unequivocally positive.

The Browns showed me a tremendous amount of character today, and leading the way was Jamal Lewis. In an earlier post, I said that one of the problems with the Browns was they seemed to lack leadership when things were going badly. Jamal Lewis stepped up as a leader today.

First of all, he ran possessed. I am a big Tennessee Volunteer fan and have watched Jamal since his college days. I have never seen him run harder than he did today. In the first half, I honestly thought it looked like he was trying to will our offense to success all by himself. Again, the numbers are underwhelming: 25 carries, 79 yards, 1 TD. But I thought that Jamal set a tone at the beginning of the game that were going to come out, smack Cincinnati in the mouth, and not give up no matter what kind of adversity we face.

Additionally, when it looked like the sideline was about to fall apart, with Braylon yelling at Derek and Kellen nowhere to be seen, Jamal stepped in to play peacemaker. It was not too long after Jamal’s sideline intervention that Derek found Braylon for the go-ahead TD.
If I had a game ball to give out, it would go to Jamal Lewis. His leap into the endzone, extending himself as far as he could to make a play, was indicative of the attitude he brought to the field today. And it led our offense. When things seemed worse than ever, the offense followed Jamal’s lead and found a way to get it done.

I was also impressed with the coaching today. First of all, they finally remembered that we have running backs not named Jamal Lewis. There was a much more concentrated effort to get Jerome Harrison and Jason Wright involved today, providing a change of pace to Jamal’s smash-mouth style. Harrison carried 4 times for 20 yards and Wright ran 5 times for 18 yards. Nothing to write home about, but part of a rushing attack that yielding well over 100 yards and helped the Browns control the game even when we couldn’t find the endzone early.

Plus, not only did the coaches keep Derek Anderson in the game but they made calls that showed they had confidence in him. Down 6-3 and driving in the 4th quarter, the call was a fade to Braylon. He almost made the catch up, but only could get one foot inbounds. On the very next play, the call was a backdoor fade to the left side of the field that Braylon caught. Every Browns fan in America was holding their breath any time Derek Anderson put the ball in the air, fearing an INT. But the coaches showed confidence in Derek and he and Braylon made the plays to get the W. And let’s not let the contribution of Kellen Winslow go unnoticed. He did not get in the endzone, but finished with 5 catches for 54 yards, most or all of which came in the second half, and kept the chains moving.

And let’s not forget that Browns fans everywhere go to see the first emotional outburst in memory from Romeo Crennel. I don’t know what led to it, all I know I heard a huge cheer from the Browns Backers and looked up at the screen and Romeo was screaming about something. It was great. It fired up everyone in the room, and must have done the same for the players. I know that is not Romeo’s personality, but we need more of it. We play well when we play fired up and intense. All football teams do. Too often this season it has seemed like we have adopted the personality of our coach. Romeo seems like a great man, and his calmness can be reassuring at times (I’m trying to be generous here), but damnit sometimes you need to show some fire. Romeo showed it today. Was it a coincidence that we came away with our first win in a manner that was more refuse-to-quit/lose than dominate-to-win? Maybe…but I think there is a link between the two.

And the defense. They played great.

Again, I know it was against the Bengals. And I know they did not have Carson Palmer playing. But five turnovers is still five turnovers, and the D-line was getting pressure when they needed to in key situations. Guys like Brandon McDonald, Eric Wright, Mike Adams, and Alex Hall, among others, are proving to be playmakers. They may give up big plays sometimes, but every game it seems like the D gets more cohesive and more apt to come up with a big play in a key situation. I don’t care if the Bengals are 0-4, they are still an NFL team with good individual talent on offense. Our D played outstanding, and is giving me confidence that if the offense can get going we could get this season turned around in a meaningful way.

It all adds up to a 1-3 record going into the bye, and the first signs of hope in what his been, thus far, a very hopeless season. I told everyone at the Browns Backers that the drive capped by the Derek Anderson connection with Braylon Edwards for a touchdown was a season changing drive. We have a talented offense that just had not had anything go right this year. That drive was the first significant thing to go right since before the second Bengals game of last season. Just like the first Bengals game last year was a springboard to a surprising 10-6 season, perhaps this Bengals game can prove to be a similar springboard to a surprising turnaround.

The Season of Great Expectations hung in the balance today. Led by Jamal Lewis and the first good quarter of play from Derek Anderson this season, the Browns escaped Cincinnati with a win. The road that the Cleveland Browns must travel to fulfill the preseason expectations is still long, treacherous, and filled with teams much better than the Bengals; but for one week at least, the Browns can find comfort in a W. They can finally build on some positive momentum, as opposed to desperately searching for something positive to grasp onto.

Well done Browns. Enjoy the bye week, and let’s get ready for the defending Super Bowl champs in the Dawg Pound. Cincinnati almost beat them in New York, and we just beat Cincinnati in Cincy.

For the first team all season, the positives aren’t so impossible to find.

[tags]cleveland browns, derek anderson, braylon edwards, romeo crennel, jamal lewis, nfl[/tags]

Tags: braylon edwards, Cleveland Browns, derek anderson, jamal lewis, NFL, Romeo Crennel

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