After 12 weeks of fans’ calling for the head of Alpha Dog, it took the man with the plan one night to deliver the most absurdly effective comeback possible: a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I’m not going to do much commenting on the game itself, because I was reduced to watching a confusing ESPN.com Gamecast in my apartment. But after basically declaring that Rob “Golden Axe” Ryan had no right to the pass he was getting from the fans a week ago, his defense held the Steelers to 6 points on two field goals, sacked world-famous John Kruk stunt double Ben Roethlisberger 8 times, and overall made Pittsburgh’s offense look like, well, the Browns’.
On the opposite side of the ball, the Browns rushed for a total of 171 yards, never turned the ball over, and even managed to overcome another typically unimpressive Brady Quinn throwing day (6 of 19 for 84 yards) to emerge with a victory.
To me, though, the most fascinating aspect of this game is what it does to Alpha’s status in the community and with the organization.
Joshua Cribbs said it before and after the game: if the Browns were to beat the Steelers, the city would essentially forgive them for the entire season. Obviously, I’m not in C-town right now, but I genuinely believe that it’s true. Insane and completely illogical, but true. I personally feel like they won a playoff game. And we’re talking about a team that’s freaking 2-11!
I don’t know that it was possible for Alpha to save his job at this point. But if it was, then he just did it. At the very least, he’s given anyone who is or will be in control of his employment status in Berea a lot to consider.
Yes, there’s the special joy that comes from beating those Terrible Towel-waving jackasses to the east — especially in the type of cold-weather, bare-knuckled, prison-yard game Pittsburgh is supposed to be engineered to win.
But beyond that, there’s the simple observation that Alpha Dog has taken a team that, by all accounts, should be slapping a postage stamp on every game left in an over-worked, injury-riddled season and is somehow getting them to play hard and with pride. Yes, the Chargers’ game on Sunday was never really in doubt. But the Browns didn’t quit and ended up hacking their way to a one-possession game where the offense looked surprisingly competent for stretches. They followed that up with a gritty 13-6 win in the coldest game ever played between the Browns and Steelers, with reserves and practice team guys playing key roles.
Granted, the Steelers are not what the analysts thought they were even a few weeks ago. They’ve now dropped games to the Chiefs, Raiders, and Browns. They’ve lost five straight games for the first time since 2003.
But as long as they have that logo, it doesn’t matter.
The question now becomes, was this primarily a stroke of luck for an embattled coach who happened to be playing the right team on the right week? Did this have more to do with the fact that his team is now full of guys who realize that they’re fighting for a job playing professional football next season? Or is there truly something to Alpha’s philosophy, approach, and relationship to the players that will allow them to be successful over the long term?
As we emphasized before the season began, it doesn’t matter what the fans think as long as the 60 guys in the locker room buy in. Against all odds, there seems to be some evidence that that is happening — ironically, even as Bill Belichick’s Patriots are beginning to show obvious signs of resistance to their coach’s philosophy.
I’m not ready to slurp the Kool-Aid on this yet. I guarantee there are some fans swigging it right now. But I will say that the remaining three games now become infinitely more interesting to think about than they were this morning.
Whether or not they’re interesting to watch is an entirely different conversation.
-T
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