CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – When the Browns touched down at Hopkins airport in the early hours Monday morning, fans gathered to greet them as they disembarked the plane and left the parking lot in their cars.
“It was definitely cool. They were out there chanting, and I am like it is 3 am in the morning and it is cold,” defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi said. “That just goes to show the love that the fans in Cleveland have and the dedication to the team they have – the best fans in the world. Just to be out there after a big win and still want to come and support given the current circumstances that we are all living in, but just to want to be out there – they had their masks on – but to be out there and supporting was very important. We appreciate them.”
Sunday night’s 48-37 elimination of the Steelers was one for the ages, and a game that will be remembered for years to come.
“I have done a lot of driving around town the last few days just because I have to get out of here,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “Just to see all of the Browns flags and seeing everybody wearing the Browns hats, I definitely feel it. I think our players understand how big it is for this community, and we have to keep it going.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the Browns over the last month and deprived fans from openly basking in the glory of what has been a once in a generation ride of exhilaration.
The Browns pulled off their first playoff win since 1994 and first road playoff win since 1969 for the franchise, which just four years ago hit rock bottom by going 1-31 over two seasons. And they did it in what was a house of horrors for them prior to Sunday night.
“We know what Browns fans have been through, and we can feel the excitement of the entire city and the guys in the locker room,” center JC Tretter, who signed as a free agent in 2017, said. “Just extremely excited to continue to play football, continue to be alive and continue to push forward. This has been a great year for the Cleveland Browns, and we have more work to do. It is a really exciting time.”
The pain endured from 2016-17 enabled the Browns to select two cornerstones – defensive end Myles Garrett in 2017 and quarterback Baker Mayfield in 2018 – No. 1 overall.
Ogunjobi was selected in the third round of the 2017 draft and has been another key component in the team’s ascent. Winning a playoff game was great, but taking out the Steelers, who had owned the Browns since 1999, was the icing on the cake.
“That is as a team that I have lost to quite a few times in my career as a Brown so being able to just be on the other side and to get that victory in their house and it be my first playoff victory was very special,” Ogunjobi said.
Their work isn't done.
Now the focus turns to taking down the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
Tuning out – Against the Steelers the Browns are overwhelming underdogs. They’ll likely be in that same, comfortable position once again Sunday at Kansas City.
“Respectfully, I do not really concern myself with the outside and what they think about our football team and our chances,” Stefanski said. “We have plenty to motivate us in having the opportunity to compete week in and week out. We will just keep the focus on us and the focus on our opponent and really ignore all of the other noise.”
In the age of multimedia and social media it doesn’t take long for bulletin board material to travel – see JuJu Smith-Schuster’s comments last week.
Exceeding expectations and winning games are what the Browns do best this season.
“Expectations, they are all from the outside whenever you talk about that. It just does not have any meaning on what is actually going to happen,” Tretter said. “It is all projections and predictions, and it just does not impact us. We are focused on what we do with the guys in that locker room and inside that building are capable of so I do not think anybody gets too caught up in what other people are telling us we can or can’t.
“We are really confident in what we can do. We have played well this year, and we know if we go out there and play the best of our abilities that we can compete with anybody. It should not impact anybody what people are saying from the outside – that should not matter.”
Practice makes perfect – Tretter, who serves as the NFLPA president, does not plan to push for practices to be eliminated or cut back during the season.
With the quality if the NFL’s product on the field unaffected by a virtual offseason Tretter recently called for offseason programs to be reduced or eliminated in a month newsletter on the NFLPA’s website.
Following the Browns’ win in Pittsburgh after practicing just once, would he ask for practices in season to be cut back too?
“No,” Tretter said with a laugh. “My whole point is always to rely on the science and rely on what trainers, sport science and strength coaches have known for a long time. Practice is very important both for acclimation and making sure we keep our dosage of high-speed yardage and all of that up for guys to avoid soft tissue injuries. No, that will not be the next thing on my checklist.”
Playoff captains – Stefanski did not name team captains of the season, instead going with a single game captain each week, thus no one wore the customary patches on their uniforms.
Sunday night, the captain patches returned.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield, Myles Garrett and Charley Hughlett donned them representing the offense, defense and special teams units.
“That was the plan all along was to have postseason captains after having game captains during the season,” Stefanski said.
Injury report – RT Jack Conklin (hamstring), OG Michael Dunn (calf), CB Robert Jackson (hamstring). All three players are “day to day” according to Stefanski.