Cleveland Browns receiver Amari Cooper set a team record with 265 yards receiving in Sunday’s 36-22 win over the Houston Texans.
HOUSTON —Andrew Berry might never have made a more important phone call in his life than the day last month when he called Joe Flacco’s agent and invited the 38-year-old quarterback to Berea for a tryout.
Flacco was brilliant again on Dec. 24 to lead the Browns past the Houston Texans, 36-22, in Houston. He threw a 53-yard pass to Amari Cooper on the first play of the game and just kept hooking up with Cooper the rest of the day.
Flacco completed 27 of 42 passes for 368 yards with three touchdown passes and two interceptions. Cooper set a single-game Browns record with 265 receiving yards. He caught 11 passes and now had 1,250 yards with two games left in the regular season. He is the only receiver in Browns history with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
The numbers sparkle, but what Flacco has meant to the Browns goes beyond statistics. He has inspired the entire team, won over an entire fan base since signing on the Browns practice squad on Nov. 20. The Browns are on a three-game winning streak with Flacco at quarterback.
“Every week I come up here, and then I get on the phone afterward with my family and it’s, ‘Man, that was a big win,’” Flacco told reporters in Houston during his post-game newsconference. “Every week seems to be like, ‘Man, we needed that.’
“We’re playing well and we’re getting ‘em. That’s December football, and January and February. They’re all must-wins. They all have a ton of importance. Our guys have done a great job so far the last few weeks of keeping that mindset.”
The game was the most complete effort of the season for the Browns on offense and defense — but not special teams. Houston’s Dameon Pierce returned a second-quarter kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. Kicker Dustin Hopkins pulled his left hamstring chasing Pierce down the field and could not continue. Punter Corey Bjorquez was also injured, possibly kicking off in place of Hopkins.
So it seems Berry has to make at least one more phone call, this one to find a kicker before the Browns face the Jets at Cleveland Browns Stadium on Dec. 28. The Browns will be fortunate if Hopkins misses only one game.
The Browns are 10-5. They did their part, but they did not clinch a playoff spot because other games did not fall their way. So they can clinch at home Dec. 28 on “Thursday Night Football” in front of their passionate fan base.
“I can’t wait to get down there,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said in his post-game newsconference. “Our crowd is going to be unbelievable. We can earn it on Thursday. That’s the story.”
The Browns built a 34-7 lead on a one-yard run by Kareem Hunt with 12:31 to play. With Hopkins unavailable for the PAT, Flacco completed a pass to Cooper for a two-point conversion.
Stefanski assumed the lead was safe enough to rest his starters, but then the Texans scored a touchdown, recovered an onside kick and scored again to make the score 36-22 with 4:12 remaining. The starters were reinserted before any more damage could be done.
The defense simply overwhelmed the Texans until the backups faltered in the fourth quarter. The deepest the Houston offense penetrated was the Cleveland 46 until the Browns starters were rested.
The Browns are playing like a team that is not going to be one and done in the playoffs, and Flacco is the main reason.
The more Flacco wins, the more it seems the prudent thing for the Browns is to sign him for 2024. But by then Deshaun Watson will be back from the shoulder injury that ended his season six weeks ago. A Watson-Flacco duo seems highly unlikely.
The Browns can worry about that later. For now, as Stefanski says, the only thing that’s important is going 1-0 this week, because if that happens, the Browns will be a playoff team.
JETS AT BROWNS
When: 8:15 p.m., Dec. 28
Where: Cleveland Browns Stadium
Records: Jets 6-9, Browns 10-5
TV: PRIME, WEWS; Radio: WKRK-FM 92.3, WNCX-FM 98.5, WKNR-AM 850
