The Browns, currently in first place in the AFC North, have done it with a stout defense that allows just 19.1 points per game and an offense that has succeeded without its star player, wide receiver Josh Gordon. Gordon, who led the NFL in receiving yards last year, will return after this week’s game after serving a 10-game suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy.
The offense has been led by a group of castoffs and overlooked players. The team leader in rushing yards is rookie Terrance West, who was a college star at Towson, an FCS school. The leader in rushing touchdowns is undrafted rookie Isaiah Crowell. Crowell was kicked off of the football team at Georgia after his freshman year and played the rest of his college career at Alabama State. The Browns’ leading receiver, Andrew Hawkins, went undrafted in 2008 and started his career in the CFL for two years before signing with the Rams in 2011.
Take away Gordon and the team’s most prominent player on offense is quarterback Johnny Manziel, who has played in only a handful of meaningful snaps and none in the past four games.
The defense is made in much of the same way. Safety Tashuan Gipson, who leads the NFL with six interceptions, is an undrafted free agent out of Wyoming who made the Browns in 2012 and won the starting free safety job last year. Even first-year head coach Mike Pettine wasn’t the Browns’ first choice for the job. He only emerged as many of the team’s original top candidates were hired elsewhere.
With seven games remaining on their schedule and three of them coming against teams under .500, the Browns have a good chance of winning their division or at least a spot in the Wild Card Round.
