In a must-win road game against a trendy preseason Super Bowl pick, with one of their most talented players back home in San Diego, after a week of controversy, the Cleveland Browns stepped up and breathed new life into their 2008 season.
As predicted earlier this week on Midwest Sports Fans, Joshua Cribbs and the Cleveland Browns pulled out a hard-fought win over the Jacksonville Jaguars 23-17. Browns fans are still waiting for Joshua Cribbs to bust out a long kick return for a touchdown, but he came up with several key special teams plays today; the most crucial being a fumble recovery after a Beau Bell strip on a kickoff after the Browns had gone up 20-17. The offense stalled and only could muster another field goal, but the six point difference forced the Jaguars to go for a touchdown on their final drive — which they just missed off the finger tips of Cocaine Jones.
This was not a “pretty” victory for the Browns, as the offense stalled pretty much the entire final 45 minutes. But it was beautiful in the sense that it pulled the team to one game within .500 with a very winnable home game against Baltimore on the horizon next week.
And let’s not ignore the 800-pound elephant in the room: the team moved to 2-0 without previously suspended tight end Kellen Winslow.
But we can deal with the Kellen Winslow stuff a little later. First, some game balls:
