CLEVELAND — All I could think about watching the Browns' 37-20 victory over the New York Jets on Thursday night is…
We deserve this.
The Browns are going to the NFL playoffs for only the third time since the expansion era began in 1999. That’s three times in 25 seasons.
You know who deserves this the most? You, the fans of this franchise.
Depending on what decade you were born in, most Browns fans have gotten to experience some degree of successful football. For example, if you were born in the 1930s or 40s, you were able to enjoy the Paul Brown/Otto Graham era – a time when the Browns played in 10 championship games over a 10-year span.
If you were born in the 1950s, you were able to experience Jim Brown, arguably the greatest player in the history of the NFL. You saw the Browns shock the Colts to win the NFL title in 1964. If you were born in the late 50s or early 60s, you saw Leroy Kelly and Paul Warfield help lead the Browns to back-to-back NFL championship appearances in the late 60s.
We can keep this going on and on.
If you were born in the late 1960s or early 70s, you came of age in the Kardiac Kids era, singing “12 Days of a Cleveland Browns Christmas” and rooting for Brian Sipe and company.
While I was a bit too young to enjoy the 1980 Browns, I got to experience the magic of the late 1980s. Five straight trips to the playoffs, three AFC Championship game appearances, the Dawg defense, Bernie Kosar, Mack & Byner, Martyball. All of it.
I was so fortunate. I've never taken those years and experiences for granted, heartbreak and all.
This brief trip down memory lane is to remind us that not all Browns fans have had the luxury of winning football in our lifetimes. If you were born after 2002, you had to wait as long as EIGHTEEN YEARS to see your team in a playoff game.
It was a lost generation, filled with coaching changes, regime changes, quarterback changes, winless seasons, more quarterback changes, and even a winless season parade.
You had to sit through it. I had to sit through it. Heck, I was outside in the zero-degree weather covering that parade!
We've suffered together, now we are enjoying this together.
A second playoff berth in four years?
We deserve it!
A nod to the coach
You know who else deserves this? Kevin Stefanski.
The 41-year-old coach came into this year on the hotseat after two straight losing seasons. The Browns had to win.
There was a point during Deshaun Watson’s first shoulder injury that I wondered if Stefanski was losing his grasp on the team. There were all the questions about that late scratch before the Ravens game, then pulling Watson out of the Colts game.
Yet through it all, Stefanski ignored the noise and kept the Browns focused. As Jim Schwartz was turning the defense into the best unit in the NFL, Stefanski was winning games with FOUR different starting quarterbacks.
Like we saw during the COVID-plagued 2020 season, Stefanski is at his best when the odds are the longest. He refuses to make excuses, even though his roster has been decimated by injuries to so many key performers. He gets the best out of his coaches and his players.
Right now, the Browns offense under Joe Flacco is working like a well-oiled machine. Not even two months ago, Flacco was sitting at home tossing the ball around with his kids. Now, he may win the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year. While I thought that Flacco would certainly be an improvement over P.J. Walker or Dorian Thompson-Robinson, I certainly didn’t think we’d be seeing this kind of performance from the 38-year-old graybeard.
Stefanski should win his second NFL Coach of the Year. Easily. And he deserves this.
"The comeback player of life"
You know who also deserves this? My friend Jimmy Donovan.
He’s the comeback player of the year. Heck, he’s the comeback player of life. After being sidelined for leukemia treatments for most of the season, Jim has made a triumphant return to the Browns’ radio broadcast booth and got to call tonight’s playoff-clinching win.
For much of his time as “the voice of the Browns,” Jimmy has dealt with leukemia. After being diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in 2000, Jimmy began a decade-long battle with the disease that ultimately resulted in a bone-marrow transplant in the summer of 2011. Three months later, he was in the booth ready to go.
Jimmy is synonymous with Cleveland Browns football. We see the game through his eyes and feel the emotion through his calls. A Myles Garrett sack, a Nick Chubb touchdown run, a Denzel Ward interception -- they all feel more significant when Jimmy calls it.
That's why tonight was made even sweeter. Jimmy was back and at the top of his game.
I remember when the Browns beat the Steelers to clinch a berth in the playoffs in the final week of the 2020 regular season, Jimmy said during his epic call that “the only thing that’s missing is you,” referring to fans amid the partially-filled stadiums during COVID.
Tonight, you were there, and Jimmy was there.
And we all deserve this.