Gotta love it! Browns win one with Jacoby Brissett. Defense soars! I love it. That's what I kept thinking while watching the Browns come back to beat Tampa Bay in overtime, 23-17. I love how the Browns defense kept coming after Tom Brady. Myles Garrett sacked the veteran QB ... twice. Defensive Coordinator Joe Woods had his guys doing a gritty job against the run. They covered well, especially Martin Emerson Jr. Let's hear it for the once beleaguered defense. They stopped Brady and the Bucs twice in the OT period. That rarely happens. How about David Njoku! Did you see that incredible one-handed leaping catch in the end zone with 32 seconds left in regulation? It's the catch of the year for the Browns. The Browns were down 17-10. It looked like this would be yet another game where Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski would probably set a personal record for using the word "frustrating." Because on most of this gloomy Sunday where the rain sometimes swirled in the wind and those with old bones felt the arthritis aching – well, it seemed the Browns would lose ... Again. Only, they didn't. Only the defense was the defense the Browns had been hoping to see all season. Only Nick Chubb was Nick Chubb, relentlessly pounding away at the Bucs defense for 116 yards. He finished it off with a bullish 3-yard run to win the game. Only Jacoby Brissett was the Jacoby Brissett we've seen most of the season – tough, smart, accountable and relentless. Playing QB doesn't come easy for him. It isn't pretty. But this was a game for gritty, not pretty. It was a game where he faced one of the NFL's best defenses (allowing only 18 points a game). They blitzed him. They hit him. But they didn't shake him. Only the Browns won, and Brissett was given a game ball. IT COULD HAVE BEEN BAD ... BUT IT WASN'T For much of the game, it appeared the Browns were on their way to yet another loss. And if the Browns had their usual output of 24 points a game, they would have won. But they didn't. This is what a bad team does ... I was thinking about that when Amari Cooper dropped a fourth-down pass in the fourth quarter. The ball was right ... in ... his ... hands. No one even around Cooper. He's one the NFL's most reliable receivers. But he dropped it. Then there was Cade York, lining up for a 39-yard field goal in the second quarter. The rookie had already kicked a 51-yarder. Make the kick, the Browns would be in front, 13-10. But this time ... YIKES! He shanked it. No chance. A couple of times, Brissett held on to the ball too long. On other occasions, third-string center Hjalte Froholdt snaps seemed a bit high and/or off target. Brissett handled them all, but the timing was off. Only this time, they didn't lose. Coach Kevin Stefanski talked about how the Browns "believed." In this game, they played like a team that had won 6 of 7, not lost 6 of 7 heading into the day. They played like they thought that somehow, some way, they'd win. HERE COME THE BIG PLAYS While Garrett and the defense were shutting down Brady in the fourth quarter and overtime period, Brissett was desperately trying to find a way to get his team in the end zone. Brissett did it by pushing his team 46 yards in the final 2:35 to tie the game, Njoku putting the exclamation point on it with a soaring catch that defied gravity and belief. Then in the overtime period, the Browns had the ball 71 yards away from the end zone with 2:45 left. Remember Cooper dropping that pass in the fourth quarter? He went back to being Amari Cooper. He caught a 17-yard pass in traffic. Then, the Browns got a break. Brissett went back to throw; he spotted Cooper about 5 yards away from the line of scrimmage. A perfect pass. A good catch. And a defense that slipped and fell apart. Cooper took the ball all the way to the 3-yard line, setting up Chubb's TD. A win. Yes, a win. A win on a day when it seemed that once again, all would be lost. A win for Brissett in his last game before handing the QB job over to Deshaun Watson. A win for the defense. A win over Tom Brady. Finally, a win for the rain-soaked fans who stuck with their team right up to the end. Terry Pluto, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, published 28 November 2022