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HOUSTON, TEXAS (January 8, 2021)
Cleveland Browns fans have probably heard it all. Mistake by the Lake. NFL version of the Chicago Cubs. Perennial cellar dwellers and the list goes on. For decades they have endured the good natured and not so good natured ribbing about their team and then came 2020 the year of the unexpected. In 2020, the Cleveland Browns found themselves a success on and off the field and now in 2021 they have an opportunity to erase all the heartache, pain and disappointments of decades gone by. The Cleveland fanbase is as ardent and loyal a following as any you will find on the American sports scene. For the Browns, the wait has been 18 years between playoff appearances and 57 years since Jim Brown led them to the promised land in 1964. For Renee Beck, it has been a lifetime.
Brought home from the hospital swaddled in a Browns shirt, Beck has been a Cleveland fan ever since. She knows the heartache, the pain, the disappointment firsthand having with her dad made the drive from Rochester, NY to Cleveland for games when the Browns weren't necessarily their best. All that is now forgotten as they have earned 2020 a season in which to relish victory rather then the agony of defeat for the first time in forever. And with the turning of the page to 2021, she believes this is the Browns moment. Standing in their way are the Pittsburgh Steelers, completing the oldest rivalry in the history of the AFC and the fifth oldest in NFL history.
On Sunday, the Browns will be battling not only their biggest rival but history as well. Not since October 5, 2003 has Cleveland downed the Steelers in a road gridiron battle. Fifteen consecutive losses at the confluence of the Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny rivers known better as Heinz Field where Tim Couch last led them to victory over the Steelers.
The Browns have tried a variety of formulas since that Sunday. Thirty different quarterbacks and eight different head coaches have all come and gone in failure. Now Baker Mayfield assumes the reins of history as he leads Cleveland into game of meaning for the first time in in 6,307 days but hey who's counting. The former number one draft pick has been at the helm of the Cleveland offense for the last 45 starts. Remarkable if for nothing else as the Browns had used nine different quarterbacks to start the previous 45 games dating back to Johnny Manziel. Even more stunning, it took the Browns nearly seven seasons from October 23, 2011 until Mayfield came on in relief of Tyrod Tayler on September 20, 2018 for Cleveland to win 23 games. The former Oklahoma Sooner has rushed onto the scene winning 23 games in two plus seasons of work.
According to Beck, Mayfield is the difference.
"Baker and his passion and intensity are contagious. This is family. The fans, the coaches, the players the organization. They play for their teammates, the fans and the city and not for themselves."
Mayfield came to Cleveland with a lot of hype. HIs brashness although refreshing to some didn't play well early on when the team was losing. Now the third year signal caller has taken control of this team and silenced many doubters. He has never been afraid of the spotlight. After all how can you be when you played in two big time college programs, won the prestigious Maxwell Player of the Year Trophy, the Davey O'Brien Award (best college quarterback) and of course the granddaddy of them all The Heisman. Now everything is coming together as expected.
Behind Mayfield's leadership, the Cleveland offense ranked just outside the NFL's top ten overall offenses but where it counts the most.....red-zone efficiency.....they are among the NFL best. The Browns over the course of 2020 found the end zone 74% of the time inside the 20. Mayfield threw 20 TD strikes inside the 20 without an interception. That is deadly accurate. Over the last four games of 2020, the Browns red zone efficiency jumped to 90%. Only the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saint could say they were better.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski has done something that maybe no other coach since Paul Brown back in the 60's did. He instilled a sense of family into this team. It's why no one worries about whether they are a starter or a role player. It's why no one worries about who gets the credit or looks good on the stat sheet. It's why as Beck says they will win on Sunday against a Pittsburgh team that has created generations of "family."
"Let’s talk team. Stefanski. Baker. Landry. Garrett," continued Beck. "A team full of heart. A team determined never to be satisfied. This team plays for each other. They are a family. Each week we have faced adversity of injury, illness, etc. and the next man up mentality. Each player has stepped up to do their part knowing they all need each other."
The Cleveland defense is nothing to sneeze about either. They find themselves in the top 10 in a category that many would say is the most important - turnover differential. Whoever wins the turnover battle usually wins the game and as the old cliche goes - defense wins championship. The Steelers may have TJ Watt but the Browns have Myles Garrett.
Described by Mayfield using a Lil Wayne lyric "Real G's run in silence like lasagna" Big #95 has led the charge in 2020 recording 12 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries plus 12 tackles for losses letting his play and not his mouth do the talking. It is an opportunistic defense that claims a plus five turnover differential. On that October Sunday in 2003, the defense came to play winning the turnover battle and holding the Steelers to just a 9% conversion rate on third down.
So here they are the Cleveland Browns just shy of 18 years to the day marking their last win in Pittsburgh. Sunday night's prime time game will come down to one thing - execution. The Browns will come with their balanced attack not preferring running over throwing or throwing over running but simply doing what they do best. Baker Mayfield and company have every intention of rerouting "The Turnpike Rivalry" back in Cleveland's direction and that begins with a playoff win in 2021.
"Passion. Heart. Team. Family. We want more and to do it against Pittsburgh will make it only that much sweeter," concluded Beck. "This is our time.
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