There's Just Something Different About These Cleveland Browns

The Browns have entered rare territory with 33-31 statement win over division rival Baltimore on Sunday

Browns fans have seen the script far too many times.

A pick-six to open the game. Costly penalties that either negate drives or keep them alive for their opponent. Muffed punts. Missed PATs. Just one of those miscues has cost Cleveland wins in the past. Sunday's matchup with Baltimore had all of those things, and more.

But alas, the Browns found a way. 33-31 Browns, the scoreboard at M&T Bank Stadium read hours after the final whistle. How?

The Ravens flat-out dominated Cleveland from the jump. Two plays in it was 7-0, after Deshaun Watson was intercepted by a blitzing Kyle Hamilton, who tipped it to himself, caught it and walked into the end zone. It felt like déjà vu all over again for the Browns QB, who had the same thing happen to him in Week 2 against the Steelers.

"I was looking at Alex Van Pelt like, 'what the f–." Watson said of the play after the game. "Again? Like, again. Really? Kyle Hamilton made a great play. He's 6-4 trying to throw over him. I guess it happens. It shouldn't happen. I don't want it to happen. We just had to shake through."

'Shake through' these resilient Browns did. 

After that play. After they were down 14-0 within five minutes of game time. After they kept shooting themselves in the foot with penalties. After a muffed punt. Even after a missed PAT.

Watson was certainly a major reason for that. The Browns signal caller was a perfect, 14-of-14 for 139 yards and a touchdown in the second half, after a dreadful 6-of-20 for 79 yards in the first half. It was a Deshaun performance fans had been waiting to see. 

Elite quarterback play is the great equalizer in this league and when Cleveland had that from Watson it somehow washed away all the ick the rest of the game provided. Myles Garrett was giddy talking about Watson after the game.

"Guys a dog, and we've known that for a long time" Garrett said. "I kept on trying to tell ya'll once he hits his stride he's gonna be back to his previous ways. Coming into the league he was hitting his spots, running down the field. We're just seeing another glimpse into who he is. ... He's special."

Garrett did his part in this statement of a win too. Just as the "did Myles Garrett even make the trip?" posts were popping up on social media, the former All-Pro notched his first half sack of the game. And then added another one shortly thereafter. 

With the context that one Ravens score came on a pick-six and another came on a short field inside the red zone after a muffed punt, the defense really only surrendered 17 points, including 7 in the second half. They answered the Ravens' pick-six with one of their own. They made Lamar Jackson's life a living hell in the pocket, registering three sacks, eight pressures and six QB hits.

Still, what's most remarkable about the Browns 33-31 win on Sunday. They did everything they could to lose it and yet they still won. That's not normal for this franchise, but there's just something different about this team. Deshaun Watson had this to say about this group,

"It's about us," "It's not one individual, not the quarterback, not a safety, it's about us. It's a team game and we all came together in that second half. When we came into this locker room we said let's flush it, it's a new 30 minutes and we gotta leave everything out there on the field." 

No play defined that togetherness more than Jerome Ford's 12-yard run on the final drive of the game that saw a caravan of his Browns teammates escorting him to a first down. It was a play Kevin Stefanski called his favorite of the game.

it takes EVERYBODY 💪🤯#CLEvsBAL on FOX & NFL+ pic.twitter.com/ZK6zyvwsRb

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) November 12, 2023

That was one moment in a game that featured a number of wild, winding moments. Put them all together, and you have a major statement for this franchise – easily top five since the team returned in 1999. 

Great teams win these games. Period.

And as things sit the 6-3 Browns find themselves right in the thick of a cutthroat AFC North, with a division crown still very much in play. This team's got bigger dreams than that though and this game may have just served as their official announcement.

This isn't the "same old Browns" of the last two decades. This team is for real. Now everyone knows.