Tag: Wild Card Round

Mike Priefer rightly credits Kevin Stefanski for the coaching win

Priefer gave all the credit to Stefanski

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Mike Priefer is normally the special teams coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, which means he doesn’t typically meet with the media on game days. Thanks to the COVID-19 chaos that has run the Browns ragged in recent weeks, Priefer had to take over running the entire team in head coach Kevin Stefanski’s absence on Sunday.

Priefer delivered with a victory, a stunning 48-37 win in Pittsburgh over the Steelers. The acting head coach deferred all credit to the team’s leader in Stefanski after the game. Priefer touched on it right away in the opening statement of his press conference.

“Last night, Coach (Stefanski) talked about our three keys to victory in this game,” Priefer said, highlighting Stefanski’s strong influence. “No. 1 was the turnover ratio, and we were plus-five. No. 2 was relying on our technique and fundamentals because we did not practice a lot this week, and that is what the guys did. They relied on their fundamentals and techniques, they trusted that, they trusted their coaching and how they played all year that has been our foundation and they did a phenomenal job with that. The third thing that Coach talked about all week long and we talked about right before the game was we need to play as a team.”

Priefer deserves credit for managing the team in an incredibly difficult situation, but he backed up Stefanski for coming up with the overriding game plan to beat the Steelers,

“It is Kevin’s team, but I appreciate that. I just reiterated what Kevin talked about. I told them what we needed to do – [win the] the turnover margin. The team that was going to win this game was going to win the turnover margin. We were 10-0 coming into today when we either won the turnover margin or were even, and that is huge.”

Stefanski’s fingerprints were all over the game, even if his own fingers were anxiously rapping away on the screen in his Cleveland-area basement. His ability to keep the team together through chaos, and doing so via remote access, is extraordinary.

Normally at this time of year, Cleveland is wondering who will be coaching the team next season. If the first year of Stefanski is any indication, that’s something Browns fans won’t have to worry about for a long time.

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5 quick takeaways from the Browns playoff win over the Steelers

5 quick takeaways from the Browns playoff win over the Steelers

On a Sunday night that will not be forgotten anytime soon by any Browns fan, Cleveland came up victorious in the team’s first postseason game in 18 years. The Browns beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 48-37, to capture the first playoff win for the Cleveland franchise since the 1994 season.

Emotions were all over the map. From the incredible first quarter to the dangerous downslide after halftime, the Browns rollercoaster was an incredible thrill ride on Sunday night. Here’s what I took away from the game in real-time.

Browns players, fans react proudly to the playoff win in Pittsburgh

The players and fans let the victory emotions fly on social media

The Cleveland Browns just won their first playoff game in over 25 years. Beating the Steelers, 48-37, in Pittsburgh in the wild-card round turned the NFL on its head.

Playing without head coach Kevin Stefanski on the sideline and minus several important pieces, the Browns went into Heinz Field and ripped apart the mistake-prone Steelers. It’s an incredible victory, widely unexpected and generally regarded as ahead of schedule for the young Browns.

The fan reaction on social media reflects the incredible emotion of such an amazing victory. Here are some of the best reactions in the immediate aftermath of the Browns playoff win:

From inside the team and the walls of team headquarters in Berea,

The fans let the brown and orange flags fly. So did some former Browns players,

 

 

Browns beat the Steelers in breathtaking fashion to advance in the postseason

Breathe in the sweet smell of a Browns playoff win!

Sunday night’s wild-card win in Pittsburgh over the Steelers will be one of those games fans will talk about decades from now with breathless smiles. It’s the kind of positive sports memory Clevelanders don’t get near often enough. It was a breathtaking display of postseason football from the Browns.

Deep breath.

If you don’t remember how to celebrate a Browns postseason victory, you’re not alone. Anyone born after about 1990 will have no memory of the last time it happened, back in the 1994 season. It’s been 27 long years and many Browns fans feel every dang minute of it.

Deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

This win exorcises a lot of demons. Doing it in Pittsburgh, where the team plays every year but has just six wins in the last 30 seasons, makes it even sweeter. Doing it after racing out to a 28-0 lead and then nervously nibbling away every last fingernail as the Steelers crept closer and closer, it’s an amazing and unforgettable experience.

Deep, deep breath.

Memories of playoff catastrophes of Cleveland sports past rushed back into prominent consciousness. How could they not? The Drive. Red Right 88. The Fumble. Those are indelible scars Browns fans wear both proudly and sadly, and until Sione Takitaki made his huge interception with just over three minutes to play, we were all wondering what fresh hell this epic collapse would be forever known by.

Let it out. Let me hear you scream!

The Browns won a playoff game. In Pittsburgh. Without the head coach. Without the NFL’s best left guard. Without a functional practice in two weeks. With every excuse in the book ready and valid, and they didn’t need any of them. The Browns won because they were the better team. Better players. Better coaching. Better decisions.

Breathe in the sweet smell of victory, Browns fans. Savor it. You’ve earned it.

Matt Nagy: Bears tried, failed to prepare for C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s trash talk

Matt Nagy was angry that his Chicago Bears tried and failed to prepare for trash talk from New Orleans Saints safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

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Chicago Bears coach Matt Nagy was, well, frustrated that another one of his wide receivers got themselves thrown out of a game with the New Orleans Saints after losing their cool. This time it was Anthony Miller, who watched Saints safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson irritate his teammate Javon Wims just a few months ago into tossing a punch at the defensive back, hurting his team by both getting ejected and yielding previous penalty yards.

Nagy told ESPN’s Jeff Dickerson after the game that the Bears offense devoted time this week specifically studying Gardner-Johnson’s on-field disruptions to prepare the receiving corps for what they were up against. He didn’t want to see his players create a mistake in a big playoff game, and it happened anyway. So it’s understandable that he’d be heated about it following the 21-9 loss.

It’s also kind of hilarious that the Bears put so much energy into keeping Gardner-Johnson from goading them (which didn’t work, which makes it more entertaining). Gardner-Johnson is a legendary trash talker just two years into his NFL career, joining the ranks of other NFC South icons like Steve Smith and Roddy White. It’s great to have one of those elite chirpers in black and gold for once. Here’s hoping he avoids hurting his own team by taking it too far occasionally, though.

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Browns put on a first quarter for the playoff ages

Cleveland set all sorts of franchise and NFL history in the first quarter romp in Pittsburgh

Yes Cleveland, that really happened!

The first quarter of the first Browns postseason game in almost 20 years ended with a truly unbelievable score.

Cleveland 28, Pittsburgh 0

All the adversity, all the nervous energy, all the years of being on the wrong end of the rivalry hose, it all went up in a glorious puff of cathartic smoke. The Browns could do no wrong, the Steelers could do no right in the first 15 minutes. From the opening snap–a Browns touchdown by Karl Joseph–to the end of the quarter, it was the most satisfying display of football from a Cleveland team in decades.

 

The Browns were the first team since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to score 28 points in the first quarter of a postseason game.

They were also the first Browns team to have a turnover differential of plus-3 in the first quarter of a playoff game.

Watch: Browns legends deliver inspiration to the team for the 1st playoff game since 2002

Bernie Kosar, Joe Thomas, Webster Slaughter and more offered up their hype for the game

It’s been a long time since the Cleveland Browns played in a postseason game. Too long. That ends tonight when the Browns visit Pittsburgh to face the Steelers.

The 18-year drought between playoff berths created a lot of pent-up energy and excitement amongst Browns fans. Several former Browns players feel it too, and they let the team know how important it is to them in a series of video messages for the players and the fans.

First up is Bernie Kosar, one of the most popular Browns of all-time. The quarterback in Cleveland during several playoff thrill-rides in the 1980s, Kosar is ready to roll,

One of Kosar’s favorite targets, wide receiver Webster Slaughter, has had his gameday outfit ready since Monday. He closes with the energy we all need,

Big back Kevin Mack also offered his support and enthusiasm,

Longtime kicker Phil Dawson is ready, too,

Wideout Andrew “Hawk” Hawkins shows off his lighter side and fires the team up at the same time,

Finally, Joe Thomas offers his energy and positivity. Thomas never got to taste the postseason in his decade with the Browns, but it clearly means a lot to him to see some former teammates get that chance,

Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski will watch the wild-card game at home alone

Stefanski is feeling fine but is not allowed direct contact with his team

When the Cleveland Browns take the field on Sunday night, their head coach will be nestled into the basement of his Cleveland-area home. Kevin Stefanski is forced to stay away from his team after the rookie head coach tested positive for COVID-19 during the week.

Instead of watching the events unfold in front of him inside Heinz Field, calling plays and making adjustments during the game, Stefanski will be sitting on a couch like most everyone else. As ESPN’s Adam Schefter noted, Stefanski will not even have his phone turned on.

Stefanski feels fine and is asymptomatic, but he is not even traveling in private. He will be in contact with the team remotely until just before kickoff.

Bucs beat WFT, could face Saints again in Divisional Round

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Washington Football Team in the Wild-Card Round, setting them up for a possible New Orleans Saints rematch

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The Washington Football Team put up a valiant effort behind spot-starter quarterback Taylor Heinicke, but they couldn’t seal the deal in a close playoffs loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tom Brady’s squad escaped with a 31-23 win, and now they have to wait and see whether they’ll face the New Orleans Saints for the third time this season.

If the Saints take care of their business on Sunday with the Chicago Bears, they’ll advance to the Divisional Round for a home game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome against the same Buccaneers team they swept in the regular season. The narrative that “it’s tough to beat a team three times” is popular, but it’s just that: a fabricated narrative. As it turns out, it’s easier to beat a team three times than to win against them after losing twice.

There have been 21 meetings between teams that played twice in the regular season and again in the playoffs since the AFL-NFL merger, and the team that won both regular season matchups is 14-7 in the postseason (per an inspired Redittor who dug deep into NFL archives). The Saints themselves beat the Carolina Panthers three times just a few years ago. So don’t sweat it.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The Saints have to defeat the Bears before they can focus on their next possible opponent. They know better than most that you can’t underestimate any matchup in the playoffs.

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If Saints beat Bears, they’ll host winner of Tampa Bay at Washington

If the New Orleans Saints defeat the Chicago Bears, they’ll advance to face either the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Washington Football Team.

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A couple of playoff games have already wrapped up, and pieces are in motion for the rest of the tournament. After the early kickoffs on Saturday, the New Orleans Saints are watching the night game to see who advances: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or the Washington Football Team.

Should the Saints defeat defeat the Chicago Bears, they’ll end up hosting the winner of that matchup at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in the Divisional Round. It’s early, and New Orleans could very well lose Sunday’s tilt with Chicago. But it’s good to know who is on the Saints’ radar.

And the first quarter between Tampa Bay-Washington set the tone as well as could be hoped. The Buccaneers’ opening drive stalled out and settled for a field goal, while Washington quickly punted on their ensuing possession. Tampa Bay held onto their early 3-0 lead despite a punt of their own by intercepting Taylor Heinicke, pushed into a relief start with Alex Smith recovering from injury. Brady quickly struck with a touchdown pass to Antonio Brown, but the following extra-point attempt was blocked, leaving them up 9-0.

So this one is worth watching, even if it would be an upset should Tom Brady and his squad lose. They entered as heavy favorites despite the impressive Washington defense coached by Ron Rivera. Maybe the prospect of getting stomped by the Saints a third time in the next round is enough for Brady to rethink whether he really wants to win this game and risk that rematch.

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