Green, Dawson Rushing is the Difference

The game was ugly, the victory was a thing of beauty. Yep, the offense esepcially looked very sluggish in the first half and the passing game was not a threat for most of the game. But the defense came to play, William Green turned it up in the second half, and the Browns used a fake field goal sprint by Phil Dawson to overtake the Raiders.

Sure, it was a game the Browns could have lost. And perhaps they might have if the Raiders didn't penalize themselves so much (it was absurd, really). Well, I don't care. Sometimes you have to face an ugly performance and find a way to turn it into a win. I credit the defense. The secondary had another excellent game, and Courtney Brown showed up again with a sack, forced fumble, a nice batted down pass late, and some tackles. In other words, he's a presence out there. And everyone else on defense pretty much did their job, especially containing the Raider RBs on short passes.

This Browns teams faces a lot of questions and uncertainties. But at 3-3 after a tumultuous six weeks, you have to feel blessed to be in the hunt. The defense has proven to be a strength, not a weakness of this team and that really bodes well. With signs of life in the running game, there's plenty to build on. This week the QB issue will resurface; good -- the last few games should have proven to everyone that both guys can do the job, and proven how important it is for both to be ready to play. There's no shame in sharing that kind of glory.

Steelers lose. After the Browns started 0-2, who would have though it would be the Steelers facing a crisis at this point? Not me. But they have weaknesses that opponents can exploit. They aren't quite able to physically dominate. Their offensive line is still hurting from injuries. Their coaching seems unsure at the moment. I won't say the Steeler's won't turn it around, cause they probably will, but it's nice to see the worry on Coach Cowher's face. Might it be time for Batch to come in? Could be. He's slightly more mobile and some fresh bood might reignite what should be a good passing offense. I'd probably vote for it, but I don't want the Steelers to figure that out just yet.

Iggy over Ed's -- Yeah. It's funny, when I came to Ignatius they hadn't won jack. It was St. Edward that was considered the cocky football powerhouse. Then even as Iggy won state titles for 3 of my 4 years, I just could not have sympathy for the Eagles. If anything, I hated 'em more cause every jock I knew from grade school went there with the expectation that Ed's would be the sports powerhouse, and they sure seemed bitter about their luck. Now over a decade later I don't care so much, and the schools are on near even footing. Fair enough. Of course in the Holy War I'm always for the alma mater. And even when I think Iggy needs to be a bit more humble, one glance at Ed's Coach Gibbon's is all I need to remember that Ignatius treats football second to school itself (it really is true, regardless what anyone says) and that puts me on the right side of this battle. I hope both schools do well, and for Ignatius to always be better.

Oh yeah -- fantasy note -- the undefeated season is no more. Thanks to facing Derek Mason and a few other surprising huge games, I went down in flames. Don't even know the exact score except that my opponent racked up around 150 points, which is at least 60 more than he'd need to win this week. Oh welll. Time to regroup.