Is this win over the Ravens a turning point in the Browns history? Spencer German and Anthony Moeglin give their thoughts on that and more in this Browns digest clip.
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00:00 33 31 the Browns get the win in an incredible game.
00:12 Incredible fashion.
00:13 A game normally Browns fans wouldn't necessarily see their team pull out at the end there,
00:18 but they got it done today against the Ravens in a game, Anthony, that we know had massive,
00:23 massive stakes for both these teams for a number of different reasons, but especially
00:26 the Browns, because if you lose this game today, you're pretty much out of the AFC North
00:30 race.
00:31 And I think that the title card for this, for this, for this recap here, this discussion
00:36 is perfect.
00:37 And I got to give props to our, our producer here, Luke, for coming up with it, because
00:42 I think this was a game that felt the phrase believe land has been thrown a lot for a lot
00:47 of, a lot of different things.
00:49 There's the 30 for 30 that has that name to it and all these different things.
00:52 But this felt like a classic, like when you think of believe land, this is what you think
00:56 of finding a way to win a game like this.
00:58 It was remarkable and something I think bronze fans aren't used to seeing.
01:02 Spence I'm sitting here thinking we're three hours since the game ended and I still don't
01:06 really know how the Browns won.
01:07 Like you think back to some of the big plays in the game and you're like, Oh, pick six.
01:11 Oh, Odell Beckham, 40 yard touchdown.
01:13 Oh, they're running back 50 yard run up the sidelines.
01:16 And you're like, well, you think Deshaun Watson, one of nine in the first quarter,
01:20 four, six or 20 in the first half.
01:22 And you're like, how did the Browns win this game?
01:25 And it was just consistently staying in it, staying in it, staying in it.
01:29 And then what do great teams do and great quarterbacks do when they have a chance at
01:33 the end of the game, they go and win the football game and they do whatever it takes.
01:36 And that was your, that was exactly the story of this game.
01:39 They just hung around long enough, made a couple of plays late and then bang, Dustin
01:42 Hopkins is on the field kicking a game winner.
01:44 And you're like, what the, how did we get here?
01:47 How are we now in the driver's seat for the AFC North?
01:50 There's so many different angles just to dissect this, this idea of the leave land or winning
01:55 a game you're not supposed to and a different vibe around this team in general and the way
01:59 that they're doing things.
02:01 I think though, I want to kind of start with just the concept that this team feels different
02:07 than past Browns teams.
02:09 And we had this conversation all the time, or centered around this team, whether it was
02:14 with your buddies at a bar or on platforms like this, where, listen, like we've waited
02:22 for a long time to see a Browns team or a Browns culture that could do this.
02:27 What we saw today, like overcome the mistakes, find a way to win at any means necessary.
02:33 And you know, stats be damned, you're going to find a way to get it done.
02:36 And it's never happened.
02:37 It's just never happened.
02:38 I think this is truly like a testament to just the culture here, the way that Kevin
02:42 Costa fancies got them believing this.
02:44 And if you look back at that San Francisco 49ers, when I mean this team's had every reason
02:48 to not go out and perform or not win games when you're down, Nick Chubb, you're down
02:54 Jack Conk and all these other injuries piling up and they're finding ways to get it done.
02:57 That to me, Anthony is like the, the staple trait of a good football team.
03:04 You find ways to win even when your back's against the wall and everything's stacked
03:07 against you.
03:08 And they've done that now probably twice this season with that 49ers game.
03:10 And now this one.
03:11 Well, I think even I'd even go three times at Indianapolis too.
03:14 Like that game was a rollercoaster game.
03:16 And these guys, that one too, probably.
03:18 Right.
03:19 They just battle.
03:20 And, and the thing is, and you see it, you may not recognize it during the games or while
03:25 you're watching on TV, but when you see stuff on social afterwards of the guys in the locker
03:29 room, you're going to see a bunch of clips that I've already seen today of the guys immediately
03:33 after the, after the game, like they, it feels like they genuinely like love each other.
03:38 Like they actually like play for each other and grind for each other and are there for
03:41 each other.
03:42 And when that is like a very strong thing, because the first half today may go down as
03:47 like one of the worst halves like ever played.
03:49 Like it was that bad.
03:50 And they just were able to stick in it because you know what?
03:52 The defense was able to pick up the offense.
03:54 How many times have we said that this year?
03:56 We're 10 weeks in now, 11 weeks in.
03:58 And we, how many times have we had to say the defense picked the offense up, but they're
04:00 still doing it because they know.
04:02 And Miles even said it after the game, he said, I'm trying to tell you guys, once four
04:05 gets going, like he's going to be tough to stop.
04:08 And you think you saw a little bit of that today.
04:09 So like this team just sticks together, stays in it.
04:13 And today, days like today, you're like, Holy cow, you don't know how it happens.
04:16 But at the end, you look at the finished product, the pretty picture at the end, you're like,
04:20 Hey, Browns winners.
04:21 And how did it happen?
04:22 It's a great team culture.
04:23 Well, and you bring up the Sean and Garrett miles, Garrett's comments after the game about
04:27 like once he gets going, you know, the sky's the limit.
04:30 And I think that's very true because the Sean is supposed to kind of be the great equalizer
04:34 for you.
04:35 He's supposed to be the player that puts you on par with some of these other championship
04:38 caliber teams.
04:39 You saw that today on the field behind me, like this is a championship caliber team in
04:43 their own right in Baltimore.
04:44 They have one of the best defenses in football, along with Cleveland, their offense is electric.
04:48 He got Lamar Jackson under center.
04:50 The defense was swarming.
04:51 They found ways to slow him down.
04:53 And on the flip side, like first half, a little bit ugly, not a little bit ugly.
04:56 It was very ugly for the shot in the first half, second half, he came out, he trusted
05:00 what he was seeing.
05:01 He made some plays.
05:02 He made a 14 to 14, um, 139 yards and a touchdown, much cleaner, much better.
05:08 And that was the guy that you gave up the draft picks for.
05:10 That's the guy you paid 230 million for.
05:12 Like if he can be that consistently for four quarters rather than just haves, which we've
05:17 been seeing the last couple of weeks, then yeah, like I have no reason to believe that
05:21 this team can't take that next step or be a championship caliber team because when you
05:24 have a good quarterback, that's what you're generally considered.
05:27 Yeah.
05:28 And when you have a great defense and the sky's the limit.
05:31 Yeah.
05:32 It's a team that does have a great defense.
05:33 They gave up 31 points today to the best, one of the best, a top six offense in football.
05:37 Fine.
05:38 Guess what they did at the end.
05:39 They turned him over and they got fourth down or they got him to fourth down, you know,
05:42 like that's all you have to do.
05:44 Um, it's, it's a special team.
05:46 One stat that, that, that was sent to me, uh, the Ravens are now the fourth, the four,
05:50 the only the fourth team in the super bowl era to lose after leading within the first
05:55 minute and not trailing until the final minute of regulation.
05:58 Wow.
05:59 That is, that is how we until 0.00 on the clock.
06:04 That is truly an incredible stat.
06:05 I like that you shared that because that, I think that puts it in perspective, but this
06:08 is the funny thing about football, Anthony, because, and you know, this as much as anybody,
06:12 like it's a weird game in that you can do everything wrong and you can do everything
06:19 right.
06:20 And sometimes you end up on the losing end when you do everything right.
06:22 And you end up on the winning end when you do everything wrong.
06:24 And that's kind of what we saw today.
06:25 Like the Browns did everything wrong for the better part of like three quarters today.
06:29 And then when it mattered most, they got the job done.
06:32 And that, and that's kind of football, right?
06:33 Like it's the old Tom Brady Patriot way of like, which that team's kind of going through
06:38 some turmoil of their own right now, coming back from Germany.
06:40 But that's the old, the old adage of that dynasty, not dynastic team was you just win
06:45 at all costs.
06:46 The fact that the Browns have now made that part of their personality, I think is something
06:49 that Browns fans should be really, really excited about.
06:52 You love it.
06:53 I heard something the other day, the Gura said it on a, on Cleve Browns daily.
06:55 The, the defense has cemented the floor for this team and the Sean Watson will set the
07:00 ceiling, you know?
07:01 So that's kind of the mindset, you know, what you're going to get on a day-to-day basis.
07:05 If the Sean plays as well as he did last week and then today, why not?
07:10 Why not?
07:11 Yeah.
07:12 That defense definitely set the tone.
07:13 They have all season.
07:14 They did it again today and it leads to a Browns win.
07:17 I want to get us out of here with a question, Anthony, because we, you know, leading up
07:21 to this game, there was a lot of talk about the stakes for the Ravens.
07:25 You win this game, you're three and one in the division, you'd swept the Browns.
07:28 So you kind of get them off your back if they were going to make a run and you put yourself
07:32 very much in the driver's seat to close this thing out down the stretch here and, and just,
07:35 and just run away with the AFC North and everyone's talking about them.
07:39 I was listening to a couple of writers upstairs who were saying, yeah, you know, I had my
07:44 story all written talking about how the Ravens were Superbowl contenders and they had to
07:48 completely change their story because of how that game ended.
07:50 Like that, but that's, that's the difference between like, you know, every little inch
07:54 matters and you go from talking about the Ravens and Superbowl contenders to now saying,
07:57 well, maybe the Browns should be in this conversation.
08:00 And for the Browns on the opposite side, like they lose this game, they're pretty much out
08:04 of the division picture.
08:05 Like you're talking wild card pretty much the rest of the way.
08:07 And yeah, it's still possible.
08:08 They could, if the Ravens really collapsed, but that was probably going to be far fetched.
08:12 So this is a massive win to kind of keep them and keep them on pace, keep them in that division
08:16 conversation to try to win the AFC North, which is massive.
08:19 And it's that door still open, which is huge.
08:21 Now my question for you, Anthony, how does this win you think, what does a win like this
08:27 do in terms of like building momentum and confidence in that locker room?
08:30 Dude, it's, it's, you can't, you can't quantify it, right?
08:34 Because the questions are now answered.
08:36 You know, we were, we, Hey, DeSean looked good against the Titans.
08:38 Great.
08:39 The Titans aren't very good.
08:40 DeSean looked good against the Cardinals.
08:42 Great.
08:43 The Cardinals are one of the worst teams in football.
08:44 None of those games really matter.
08:46 He looked okay against the Bengals, but that was the hurt Bengals before they were good.
08:49 This one today, you walked in to the bet, arguably the best team in the NFL stadium
08:55 in an afternoon game where you didn't look good early.
08:58 You stuck in it, you stuck in it, you stuck in it and you come out with a win.
09:02 The questions are answered.
09:03 And this is where you see, like you thought last week was a jumping off point.
09:07 This is one where it's like, Oh, now he believes in himself.
09:10 So now it's like, all right, this thing can go like, like that really, really quickly.
09:14 This is a huge momentum shifter.
09:16 You win this one today.
09:17 You got the Steelers next week.
09:19 If you can win that one now, all of a sudden you're three and two in the division with
09:23 one game to go.
09:24 You're back in the conversation.
09:26 It can change the entire outlook of the season.
09:28 We call it, I think the 49ers game, a statement win or like a, we call it a signature win
09:32 for Stefanski because there haven't been a lot of those on his resume to this point.
09:36 I think this is on top of being another signature win for Stefanski as he's now adding to that,
09:41 that resume.
09:42 I think it's also just us.
09:43 It's a, it was a statement by the team today.
09:45 It was a statement that they are for real and that they should be part of this championship
09:50 conversation.
09:51 Yes, there's still questions about the Sean.
09:52 He's got to get those first halfs ironed out.
09:53 But like we said throughout this entire, this entire conversation, if he can be what he
09:57 was in the second half today, man, his team very much could be Superbowl contenders.
10:02 I think that's, that's undeniable at this point.
10:04 Watch, watch how the national narrative changes this week.
10:07 Like there it's going to be, Hey, there's going to be a lot of believers.
10:10 There's going to be a lot of believers on the Cleveland Browns.
10:12 And I think that's a good way to say it.
10:15 It's going to be an interesting conversation for sure.
10:17 Nationally about this team.
10:18 We'll see what it looks like.
10:19 And you can obviously see what it looks like more with all the content here on the Browns
10:24 digest YouTube page.
10:25 And of course, over at Browns digest.com, we got you covered over there at all times
10:29 with all things Cleveland Browns.
10:31 Thanks for watching as always guys take care.
10:33 And as always follow along with us and the Browns digest team.
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