The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Drama kings
Browns show spirit under Mike Pettine
Here’s hoping you stuck around for the end of that one.
This Browns team is not like any since the 1980 Kardiac Kids took fans on a roller coaster of emotions from the beginning of the season until the ride abruptly stopped with Red Right 88 on Jan. 4, 1981.
But no Browns team led by Brian Sipe, Bernie Kosar or anyone else did what Mike Pettine’s team did on Sept. 5 in Nashville, Tenn. Down, 28-3, in the first half, the Browns scored 26 unanswered points for a 29-28 thriller over the Tennessee Titans. It was the largest come-from-behind victory on the road in the history of the NFL, and the largest in the history of the Browns since their inception in 1946.
The Browns are 2-2 a quarter of the way through the season, and each game was decided by three or fewer points. Each game came down to the last five seconds.
Finally, for the first time since Kosar was the quarterback from 1985 to 1993, there is a face to this team. Make that two faces — Pettine and Brian Hoyer.
Pettine is so single-minded, so determined and has such faith in his players that the entire team feeds off the drive of this former Pennsylvania high school coach.
The Browns were trailing, 28-13, with 1:36 to play in the third quarter at LP Field when Travis Benjamin muffed a punt.
Tennessee recovered, but fortunately for the Browns, the play did not count because the Titans committed a penalty.
The reprieve did not lighten Benjamin’s mood as he trudged to the sideline. He has been struggling on punt returns from the beginning of the season. The muffed punt was another blow to his confidence.
“I grabbed him when he came off after the fumbled punt,” Pettine told reporters in Nashville. “I said to him, ‘Hang in there. If you have a chance to make a play, make a play.’ ”
Benjamin did not make just one play. He made two. He caught the touchdown pass that sliced the Tennessee lead to 28-22 with 6:49 left and then he caught the touchdown pass that tied the game, 28-28, with 1:09 to play. It is the first multi-touchdown of his career.
It was not an easy catch. He had to leap at the back of the end zone and make sure the ball was secured as he landed with first his right foot then his left barely in bounds.
“To me, he’s a microcosm of the team,” Pettine said. “Here’s a guy that had something bad happen to him, and he didn’t go in the tank. He bounced back and made two plays, including the game-winner.”
As long as we’re on the subject of keeping faith in players, how about the faith Pettine showed in long snapper Christian Yount? Two bad snaps by Yount affected a missed field goal and a blocked field goal try by Billy Cundiff in the 23-21 loss to the Ravens on Sept. 21.
The Browns last week signed long snapper Charley Hughlett to the practice squad to challenge Yount. It would have been easy to make a switch and assume Yount lost his mojo after 2 1/2 seasons of flawless play. But Pettine stayed with Yount, who on Oct. 5 made perfect snaps on two field goals and three PATs by Cundiff, including the one that broke the 28-28 tie.
Hoyer was magnificent. He has started seven games over two seasons with the Browns and engineered comebacks in the final two minutes in three of them — last year in Minnesota and against the Saints and now the Titans this season. He was 21 of 37 for 292 yards with three touchdowns and an interception in Nashville.
To be sure, the Browns are not a great team, just as the 1980 Browns were not a great team. Reality hit like a freight train 33 years ago when the Kardiac Kids finished 5-11 in 1981.
The 2014 defense was awful in the first half against the Titans. The game might have ended differently had Titans quarterback Jake Locker not been forced out of the game in the second quarter with a thumb injury.
Charlie Whitehurst replaced Locker and threw two touchdown passes one minute apart in the second quarter.
Once the Browns realized they were facing Whitehurst, 1-4 as a starter with a 65.8 passer rating in eight-plus NFL seasons, the defense smothered him and the Titans’ run offense.
Whitehurst had a chance to be a hero at the end, but instead he was stopped for no gain on a quarterback keeper on fourth-and-1 with 3:03 left. Next, after the Browns took the 29-28 lead, Browns rookie defensive back K’Waun Williams sacked Whitehurst with 19 seconds to play. The Titans had to call their last timeout. The game ended two plays later, and the Browns celebrated.
The victory was the first on the road for the Browns since Hoyer led the comeback in Minnesota on Sept. 22 last year.
“Break off the rear view mirror,” Pettine told his players in April when he met them for the first time at the start the offseason program, referring to 15 mostly frustrating years. The team is getting the message. JSchudel@MorningJournal.com
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