Crazy division. Crazy day.
That was one wild Browns win in Baltimore, the last-second 33-31 game. It meant the top three teams in the division would end Week 10 a half-game apart (Baltimore 7-3, Cleveland 6-3, Pittsburgh 6-3), with dangerous Cincinnati in the weeds at 5-4. Week 11: Bengals at Ravens on Thursday, Steelers at Browns on Sunday.
The Cleveland comeback was nutty enough that the name of Victor Wembanyama cross-pollinated its way into the post-game conversation I had with Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski about falling behind 7-0 in the first minute on a Deshaun Watson pick-six. “We got in that hole early,” Stefanski said. “That first pass play, you gotta tip your cap to Kyle Hamilton. He’s like Wemby [the 7-foot-4 Spurs rookie] out there playing nickel. You gotta just say ‘All right, let’s go start this game over.’”
The Hamilton pick-six was amazingly athletic, and it had to be deflating for the Browns. Deflating, too, was settling for field goals on Cleveland’s first three scoring drives, and Watson injuring his ankle on a first-half tackle. Midway through the third quarter, it was Baltimore, 24-9. But here came Watson. He led a 10-minute drive to make it 24-17. Baltimore lengthened the lead to 31-17, but in one fourth-quarter minute, the Browns got two touchdowns—on a Watson-to-Elijah Moore pass and on a 34-yard Greg Newsome interception return.
With Watson favoring his left ankle, his performance was all the more impressive. This was the first time Cleveland fans could watch their $230-million quarterback and say, Maybe he’s worth it. Two 75-yard TD drives and a well-oiled final drive to the winning field goal. Cleveland took over at its 42 with 4:55 left in the game, trailing, 31-30. Watson’s 14th straight completion of the second half at the two-minute warning, a well-placed 17-yarder to Amari Cooper, gave Cleveland life. A gimpy Watson scramble for 16 put the Browns in long field-goal range, and three more runs got them 18 yards closer. The narrative coming in was the coronation of Lamar Jackson, but Watson outplayed him down the stretch, and Cleveland put up 24 points on the vaunted Baltimore D—which had crushed Detroit and Seattle, recently—in the last 20 minutes.
“Deshaun has that mentality that he’s just going to do whatever it takes to win,” Stefanski said. “He was battling through an ankle injury in that second half. He made plays with his feet. He scrambled. He found the open guys. He did what he does. A huge part of what he does is lead this football team. He was selected captain for a reason. I just saw him leading the football team there in the second half.”
I asked Stefanski if there were moments that he wondered whether Watson would be worth the money and the bad press. Did he waver? “No,” Stefanski said. “I don’t know if there’s a more emphatic way to say, ‘consistent confidence.’ He wins football games. He’s done it his entire life – that’s just who he is. I have the utmost confidence in him. Always did.”
State of the Niners
I watched a lot of Niners 34, Jags 3, which broke the Niners’ three-game losing streak and the Jags’ five-game winning streak. Five observations:
1. The 31-point win was very mindful of the 32-point rout of the Cowboys a month ago. That’s what happens when this teams has its full complement of players, and wideout Deebo Samuel and left tackle Trent Williams were back in the lineup. Huge boost.
2. Chase Young made his presence felt often with four pressures of Trevor Lawrence, and he had a combo strip-sack of Lawrence with his Ohio State pal, Nick Bosa. Young’s game was good for Javon Hargrave having an increased impact as well, and for an improved run defense.
3. Brock Purdy’s game (19 of 26, 296 yards, three TDs, no picks) was also mindful of his near-perfect game against Dallas. His accuracy on a few occasions stood out. Kyle Shanahan said Purdy’s first touchdown throw, across his body but perfectly placed over Tyson Campbell and Andre Cisco, right into the hands of Brandon Aiyuk, made him nervous. Accurate passers—Purdy’s now the top-rated passer in the league after some off-weeks—should be trusted in situations like this. “He’s the reason we have a chance to win every week,” Fred Warner said post-game.
4. There are times when Jacksonville looks like a real Super Bowl contender. But the Jags’ losses to Houston and San Francisco show this isn’t a premier defense. And Lawrence has to play better in games like this one, against strong defenses, to take his place in the top echelon of quarterbacks. And the schedule won’t be friendly for Jacksonville after Tennessee visits Sunday. The next four: at Houston, Cincinnati, at Cleveland, Baltimore.
5. Both teams were coming off byes. San Francisco looked rested, fresh. Jacksonville looked jittery, not ready. “The bye came at the perfect time for us,” Warner said. “We needed it a lot for health and reflection. The way we got after it in practice this week, I knew we’d come out and play very well.”
It’s time, Jets.
I can’t think of anything more offensively inept in all the time I’ve covered the NFL than this: In the last four-and-a-third games for the Jets (games against Vegas, the Chargers, the Giants, Philadelphia, and the last 20 minutes of the Denver game), the Jets have had 55 possessions. They have scored two offensive touchdowns. Both have come on one-play drives. The Eagles laid down strategically to let Breece Hall score an 8-yard rushing TD in Week 6. Zach Wilson hit Hall on a pop pass for a 50-yard TD against the Giants in Week 8.
The rest of the 53 drives in 17 quarters-plus? No touchdowns.
I know why Robert Saleh and the Jets have fervently and consistently defended Wilson for the last couple of months. They figure if they bench Wilson, he’s finished. And they want him to benefit from an extended time being mentored by Aaron Rodgers, which is logical. But the problem in not going to either of the backups, Tim Boyle or Trevor Siemian, is that you’ve got a team to face. If the other 21 starters play at Wilson’s level, they get benched. It’d be an understandable double-standard if Wilson showed promise … if, say, he got the team into the end zone inside the two-minute warning at Vegas Sunday night instead of throwing a pass into the hands of Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane to lose the game.
With games against Buffalo and Miami coming in a six-day span next week, and the Jets 4-5, it’s Pollyannaish to continue to hope Wilson’s going to see the light. He might, but he’s almost certainly not going to. The best chance to win must-games coming up is by energizing the team with a quarterback change. It’s time.
Read more in Peter King’s full Football Morning in America column.
