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January 20, 2015Cleveland defensive backs headline PFF’s All-AFC North Team
January 20, 2015Ihope you’re sitting down: The Cleveland Browns did not make the NFL playoffs this year. A shocker, I know. It looked like they might sneak in for a minute, but a December swoon saw the Browns finish 7-9, which, to be fair, was their best record in seven years. Again, Browns fans could only watch the playoffs from a distance, like hungry children peering through the window at a Christmas feast.
That does not mean, however, that these playoffs don’t have Cleveland all over them. You have to squint a little to see it, but it’s there. Take this past weekend’s Conference Championship games. There were former Browns and almost Browns and Cleveland-relevant players all over the field.
I’m not saying that the entire world, sporting and otherwise, revolves around Cleveland, but the entire world, sporting and otherwise, revolves around Cleveland. While it feels counterintuitive, the NFL playoffs are no exception. Go on, take a look; there may be more connections than you think.
AFC Championship
This Colts-Patriots game was brimming with Brownsiness, with the Colts especially, um, boasting a bevy of Browns castoffs. Former orange helmets Trent Richardson, D’Qwell Jackson, Josh Cribbs, and Mike Adams are all current Colts, and each garnered attention Sunday.
Trent Richardson was a healthy scratch for nebulous personal reasons. The nature of those reasons has not been disclosed, though reports say that he is dealing with a family health issue. Things are not going well for the former No. 3 overall pick, and I hope he can get right both on and off the field, if only so I can make fun of that trade again without feeling quite so bad.
Josh Cribbs had a rough game in Foxboro. He returned three kickoffs, averaging a respectable 25 yards per runback. Alas, two of those returns began deep in the Colts’ end zone, so Indianapolis’ averaging starting field position from those kick returns was the 22.3 yard line. For instance, Cribbs gained 30 yards on the game’s opening kick, but he caught it with his heels nearly on the back line, thus the Colts only started on their own 21. A solid kick returning effort from Josh, but nothing earth shattering.
Cribbs’ most impactful play was a botched punt return in the first quarter. The Colts had forced a Patriot three-and-out, and they still had a fighting chance at drawing first blood. Alas, the punt bounced off of Cribbs’ facemask, the Patriots scored six plays later, and the rout was on.
I still have tremendous affection for Josh, as I believe many Clevelanders do. That only made this play that much harder to watch. Chin up, No. 16 (but hands up higher).
Speaking of the Patriots first touchdown: it initially looked like they had scored on a LaGarrette Blount four-yard run, but the refs reviewed the spot and determined that Blount’s knee was down before the ball crossed the plane. The gentlemen who made that goal-line stop: D’Qwell Jackson and Mike Adams, Browns linebacker and safety emeritus, respectively.1
D’Qwell Jackson had nine tackles against New England, though only two were solo stops and none were for a loss. His biggest play was a second quarter interception of Tom Brady. Jackson was matched up against Rob Gronkowski, ran with him down the seam, and stepped in front to pick off the pass. His help over the top on that play? Mike Adams.
Jackson started every game for the Colts this year, and was easily the team’s leader with 140 tackles. He also had four sacks, forced a fumble, recovered four fumbles, and scored a defensive touchdown. Not a bad year for No. 52.
However—and Browns fans may be unsurprised by this—some statistics suggest that Jackson was not as impactful as his raw numbers indicate. He developed something of a reputation in Cleveland for making tackles, but also for those tackles coming after significant damage was done. The good people at Pro Football Focus didn’t think much of D’Qwell’s efforts this year, least of all against good teams.
Colts played 12 games against teams with winning recs this yr. D'Qwell Jackson finished with a cumulative PFF grade of -17.8 in those games.
— EJM (@ejmaroun) January 19, 2015
Mike Adams, who played in Cleveland for five years, played in every game for the Colts in 2014. He had perhaps his best season as a pro, with career-bests in both tackles (87) and interceptions (5). He also forced two fumbles, and recovered two more. He was the Colts’ third-leading tackler and top interceptor.
Adams matched Jackson’s nine tackles Sunday against the Patriots. He was not an especially impactful player, at least not enough so to warrant mentioning in ESPN’s game recap. His nine tackles came after an average gain of 9.7 yards, and he did not make a stop behind the line. He did, however, get the honor of wearing Eric Dickerson’s No. 29.
Another Colt with Ohio relevance was former Buckeye running back Daniel “Boom” Herron, who totaled 62 yards on 12 touches.
The Patriots did not employ any former Browns against Indy, but they do have three guys who played their college ball in Ohio. Backup defensive back Nate Ebner is an Ohio State alum, and receiver Julian Edelman and backup offensive lineman Josh Kline are both Kent State Golden Flashes.
NFC Championship
There were no former Browns to be found in the NFC Championship game, though there were some players with Ohio connections. The Packers had two Buckeyes on the roster: linebacker AJ Hawk and center Corey Linsley.
Linsley started all 16 games for the Pack in his rookie year, and helped limit the Seahawks’ fearsome pass rush to one sack and six quarterback hits Sunday. Hawk had 90 tackles on the season, but totaled just four in Green Bay’s two playoff games.
Of course, standout Cheesehead Clay Matthews III is the son of longtime Brown and Pontiac dealer Clay Matthews, Jr. The youngest Matthews had six tackles and one sack of Russell Wilson in Seattle.
The last Packer with ties to the Browns is backup quarterback Scott Tolzien. The Browns tried to sign the Wisconsin Badger off of the Packers’ practice squad in 2013, only to have the Packers rebuff their efforts. Green Bay gave Tolzien a healthy raise to keep him around, bumping his pay from a $6,000 per week practice squad stipend to a $555,000 year’s salary.
The only Seahawk with any link to Ohio is backup defensive lineman Landon Cohen, who attended Ohio University. Cohen played sparingly for Seattle, but did record one hit on Aaron Rodgers.
♦♦♦
So you see, even when the Browns are out of it, they’re still in it. We can still cheer on our former heroes when they wear different colors. Some players leave the franchise in ignominy and receive heaps of scorn for their troubles, but guys like Josh and D’Qwell deserve a little better. They put in their time in Cleveland, and they served it as best they could.
And no, it may be no surprise that the team with the most former Browns (the Colts) lost miserably, while the teams with no former Browns (the Patriots and Seahawks) are meeting in the Super Bowl. And yes, it is a bit sad that these are the lengths we have to go to make the playoffs relevant to Northeast Ohio. So it goes.
If I overlooked any players with Cleveland/Browns/Ohio connections, I encourage you to share who they are (and what a buffoon I am for overlooking them) in the comments section.
*UPDATE: My pal and former co-worker Derek, a Seahawks fan, has informed me that Seattle has two former Browns on the roster. Center Patrick Lewis spent some time in Cleveland in 2013. He was primarily a practice squad player with the Browns, though he was active for three games. Wide receiver Chris Matthews, who caught the fateful onside kick, was signed by the Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2011, but released before the start of the season.2 Also of note, Seattle quarterbacks coach Carl Smith filled the same role with the Browns in two stints: 2001-03 and 2009-10.
**UPDATE: WFNY reader Harv 21 pointed out that Andrew Luck‘s father, Oliver, was raised in Cleveland and played quarterback for St. Ignatius. We’ll count it.
15 Comments
Will, this is not a buffoon blast, since these guys played in the earlier rounds, but I made a mental note of them. Back then, we had both a Frostee and a Fozzie sighting. And late in the Steelers-Ravens game, old friend Ben Tate made a key contribution to a Ravens interception that helped seal Pittsburgh’s loss.
Yeah, I like Josh too, and it was difficult to watch him struggle against both the Pats and earlier against the Broncos, when a replay saved him from another muff. And T.J. Ward finally got some postseason experience; I always liked him too.
Man, I wonder if Trent Richardson will even be in the league next year. Some people don’t like Jim Brown and his opinions much, but he nailed it when he said TR is “ordinary.” But right now, ordinary would be an improvement.
From the title, I thought for sure you were going to take a look at the ending of the NFC Championship game. In my opinion, there are only a few games in history that can even pretend to compare to the gut wrenching feel that we had after “The Drive” and “The Fumble.”
Tenn losing to StL on the last play when they couldn’t quite stretch the ball to the goalline.
Arizona losing to the puke-inducing Steelers when Santonio made a ridiculous grab on the sideline.
Music City Miracle (Titans over Bills)
And, now, Green Bay losing a 2-TD lead in the last 2 minutes of the game, which included an on-side kick recovery for Seattle (The Recovery).
I think the Packers loss was much worse than any of those other gut-wrenchers. In those other games, with maybe the exception of “The Fumble” game, the team that won deserved it because they made plays. And the team that lost also played well. Nobody gave anybody anything — again, except maybe Earnest. But even The Fumble game showed that the Browns had great heart in coming back in the second half, and it was a great game to watch.
But the Packers loss was different. They gave it away. They started to run out the clock in the third quarter. They have the best QB in the league, and they were afraid to let him throw the ball. They had several crooshal dropped passes and one dropped interception in the second half. They had another guy intercept a pass and then slide down instead of running it back because they all assumed that the INT had just sealed the win. They made an inexplicably poor defensive play against the two-point conversion. And, of course, the botched onside kick and the failure to score TDs instead of FGs.
Those other teams that lost can take some small bit of solace in that they played their guts out. Green Bay can’t. They took their foot off the gas and started to coast. Worst loss ever.
We took our foot off the gas late, but we took it off the gas, put the car in park, and got out to grab a donut and coffee in “The Drive” game.
I get where you are coming from though as it was an incredible momentum swing to close out that GB game. It went from their defense shutting everything down to Seattle being unstoppable. And, as it was happening, all of those missed GB opportunities really started creeping into the forefront of everyone’s mind.
But we didn’t beat ourselves. Yeah, we played the dreaded Prevent late, but we got beat by a great QB who did that sort of thing all the time. Just like when the Bengals got beat by Joe Montana. Green Bay beat themselves.
Looking only at the game itself, in many ways, the Green Bay loss was worse. However, the (mythological) lasting effects of “The Drive” and “The Fumble” far surpass it, at least to date. Any logical person does not believe that something that happened on the field 25+ years ago has any bearing on today. At least, not in some cosmic way. Sports are rarely logical though, so the narrative is that the Browns never recovered from those stinging losses.
The collective psyche of the organization, the team, the fans, the city is permanently damaged, or so the story goes. In that context, it’s yet to be seen what damage the Green Bay game really had.
I guess the Clay Matthewses of the world now have a new shared experience to bond over.
Yes, meant to put something in there about it being potentially worse in a singular fashion, but then when you add it to the history (no championship with those squads that got close), it made it even worse as time went on. GB already has a Rodgers-era championship.
I enjoyed watching former Browns get a chance at the playoffs with other teams. I was a fan of DQ, Cribbs and Mike Adams. Although this isn’t Browns related I kept wondering during the NE/IND game what would have happened if Blount stayed with the Steelers. Would they have replaced NE or IND in the AFC championship game?
The Mistakes
As long as we’re picking at wounds that still haven’t healed, how about that 36-33 loss to the Steelers in the ’02 playoffs? In a strictly football sense (i.e., not psychological), that was worse than both the Drive and the Fumble.
But that’s the great thing about Browns football. They give every generation that comes along their own crushing, kick-in-the-gut playoff loss to personally experience and carry around forever.
Hey, at least they don’t give us the heros that unexpectedly leave anymore (Jim Brown, Paul Brown, Bernie Kosar)
Mike Adams played 5 years here? Pretty forgettable.
Also, if you’re reaching that far to create a connection between Little Clay and Cleveland, aren’t you’re remiss not throwing in an Andrew Luck analysis? Being that his daddy Oliver was an actual Clevelander and the pride of Iggy in his day.
Good call, will be updated accordingly
Crooshal? Sorry but that is the awesomest thing ever.
Never has the prevent shone brighter…until last Sunday.