Browns Defeat Jaguars 23-17 And End Season With Four Straight Wins

Celebration in Cleveland as the Browns win their fourth in a row and eliminate Jacksonville from the playoffs. It was cold, cold, and really cold in the Cleveland Browns Stadium, but the victory melted away for good any ice cycles the fans had accumulated from the first half of the season. Weather cold as it was in Cleveland definitely impacts a game and without a doubt it affected game play today. It was the running game of the Browns once more that carried the team to victory with some good defense thrown in.

Jerome Harrison proved his worth once more with another hundred plus yard run effort. Harrison carried the ball 33 times for a total of 127 yds and one touchdown. Joshua Cribbs added another 47 yds on 6 carrries includung a touchdown scamper of 14 yds in the second quarter. Cribbs longest run of the day was 25 yds. Chris Jennings contributed 38 yds on 9 carries. Cribbs and Harrison have proven themselves to be a one two punch and a knockout.

What can you say about the passing game, which has been for most of the season lame. True, the freezing cold weather will affect a passing game drastically, so I will give Anderson a pass on this game and maybe, it was the Browns game plan to utilize the strong running game of Harrison and Cribbs. Derek Anderson had only 86 yds on 7 completions out of 11 attempts and one interception. Phil Dawson was perfect with three field goals and two extra points accounting four 11 of the 23 points.

The defense harassed Garrard through the whole game sacking him three times and hitting him another ten times. Garrard ran for forty yards, which would indicate pressure and coverage were good causing him to run all over place. Garrard had 202 yds on 22 completions out of 39 attempts. The Jaguars couldn't close out a fourth quarter surge.

It was a happy ending to a terrible season. Fan expectations will be higher going into next year and Holmgren's challenge will be to fulfill those higher expectations. The running game looks to be in place. The quarterback position still remains a big question mark going into the Holmgren take over. We will see what happens in the days ahead. Season over for the Browns, now the playoffs will begin. Who will it be in the Super Bowl?

The Browns Excel Over The Chiefs 41-34

The Browns are coming on strong down the final stretch, defeat the Chiefs. It was only lowly Kansas City today, but a victory none-the-less. Jerome Harrrison and Joshua Cribbs were firing on all pistons with five touchdowns, a total of 30 points of the 41 the Brown's scored. If you put there yardage together they had over 600 yards of body pounding forward motion. It was a good thing because Brady Quinn was misfiring with two interceptions.

Jerome Harrison had a 71 yard run for a touchdown and accumilated a total of 286 yds on 34 carries. An average of 8.4 yds a carry. Add 3 TD's to his production and Harrison was impressive. This kind of show solidifies his place at running back for the rest of the season and into the next.

Joshua Cribbs, the Browns top offensive producer, once again stole the show. He set a new NFL record with 2 kick off returns for TD's making a total of 8 for his career. Cribbs first was 100 yds and his second went for 103 yds. Cribbs is a key player for the Browns and has proven his flexibility to play many positions, quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and special teams. I have spoken many times about how Mangini needs to incorporate that into the game plan.

Kansas City didn't sit down and gave the Browns a scare near the end. The Brown's defense couldn't stop Matt Cassel or Jamaal Charles all day. Cassel had 331 yds of passing and two TD's. Charles had 154 yds of running and one TD. A decent day by standards, but fades into the background compared to Cribbs and Harrison.

The Browns are now 3-11. Next week they play the Raiders and then end the season with the Jaguars. The Browns can put an exclamation point on their season by winning these two final games and carry a streak of five into next year. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, one game at a time. A final note, Harrison broke Jim Brown's single-game team rushing record. It was a day of records.