2. Hopefully, this win cools off the hot seat that coach Mike Pettine had suddenly been sitting on
After the last-second loss to the Chargers, many media members locally began to speculate on Pettine’s future as the Browns’ head coach. This seemed unfathomable last year, when he got the Browns off to a 7-4 start – their best start since 2007 – and had them in playoff contention until the second-to-last week of the season.
Tony Grossi wrote that this game against the Ravens could be the make-or-break game of his coaching career – that a loss could mean that he lost the team and could prompt owner Jimmy Haslam III to make his third coaching change in his four-year tenure as the owner. But the way the Browns fought back and eventually won should quell that talk for the time being.
Pettine didn’t have the best week leading up to the game. There was a bit of a public tiff between he and cornerback Joe Haden when Pettine revealed that Haden asked the coaches not to play just hours before the game with the Chargers kicked off, which had fans and some media members questioning Haden’s toughness and heart. Pettine stood firmly behind his friend and hand-picked defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil even though that unit is ranked 32nd overall in both rushing and total defense.
Pettine showed that he still has the respect of his players because, despite periodic struggles, they played hard all game long. His offense relinquished the run-first attack he desired and became almost a West Coast offense that gashed the Ravens for five quarters.
While some questioned him not taking a timeout with the Ravens facing second-and-goal at the end of the game, I don’t. You don’t want to give Flacco and the offense a favor. Remember – the Browns were winning this game. While the decision hurt when his offense ran out of time as they furiously drove down the field, his team won in the end. Had he taken a timeout and Flacco tossed a TD pass on the next play, everyone would have been screaming for his head.
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