Browns return feeling relieved
Players exhale after victory takes 0-16 finish off table.
Perhaps the most jarring moment f r o m t h e p o s t - game locker room video the Browns posted to the t e a m’s o f f i c i a l T w i t t e r account following Saturday’s game was seeing Joe Thomas — 10-time Pro Bowler and a player who will walk off the field and straight to Canton — crying following the team’s first win.
“I cried like a baby with him, to be very honest with you,” head coach Hue Jackson said Monday. “That was probably one of the moments that I will always remember in my coaching career, watching a future Hall of Famer overcome with emotion because he knows how hard he has worked to help this young team and these players get this victory.”
“People who don’t know Joe, he doesn’t normally have that relationship with c oa c hes , ” wi de re c e ive r Andrew Hawkins said. “He is someone that every guy in this locker room respects and looks up to. When you see the amount of love and respect that he gives Hue and how much he cares for him, it is special. That is how a lot of the young guys know that was real.”
If you’re feeling a breeze coming from the direction of the Browns practice facility in Berea today, it’s the collective sigh of relief that comes from not facing a week of questions about going winless. The Browns’ 2016 season went from being possibly historic to being merely bad when San Diego kicker Josh Lambo sent his 45-yard field goal attempt wide right as time expired.
“It is a good feeling for us walking into the building today, obviously,” Jackson said, “very different from every other Monday this season. This is the way it is supposed to be.”
“It is definitely a relief, man,” linebacker Chris Kirksey said. “We were just waiting on that first win, and we got it this past weekend.”
“1 -14 i s s t i l l not where we wanted to be when we started the season,” Hawkins said. “At the same time, to avoid being a historically bad team ... That relief, especially on Christmas weekend, it felt good to make the weekend obviously a lot more enjoyable.”
In reality, if you’re a bad football team, it’s ideal if you can spend the last week of your season just quietly playing out the string, especially if you’re in a position, like the Browns, where there isn’t a leadership shakeup looming. Had the Browns come into this week at 0-15, though, they would have received the type of attention on a national scale normally reserved for playoff teams this time of year.
That is likely one of the reasons Jackson called the feeling of winning Saturday freeing.
“I feel better today than I did at any time during this year, to be very honest with you,” he said.
“It is a relief, especially for the veteran guys who do not have very many cracks left at this, if at all,” Hawkins said. “You never want to be associated with that — a historically bad season.”
Work can now get started without the spectre of avoiding history hanging over anyone’s head. For once, the Browns can focus simply on the week — and the offseason — ahead.
“You can just tell what type of players we have on our team and the type of fight we have,” Kirksey said. “I am definitely excited to get into this week.
“Pittsburgh week is a big week. I just know the guys will be ready to play.”