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This week's game ball winner really came down to two players. I certainly couldn't give it to anyone on the defensive side of the ball, considering the defense looked flat and could not stop the Bengals' running game. Special teams didn't play much of a factor either. The only people I considered were on offense -- Colt McCoy and Ben Watson. While McCoy undoubtedly had a good game throwing the football, I am giving this week's game ball to Watson.

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I thought about doing a poll for this week's game ball because there were several Browns who had their best games of the season. After thinking it through though, I think everyone was so impressed by what Joe Haden did that he would win the poll in a landslide.

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I'm still at a loss of words for what went down during Cleveland's 24-20 loss to Jacksonville on Sunday. I'll have more of my thoughts during Tuesday's game recap, as always.

For now, it's time to award this week's game ball to starting safety Abram Elam. I viewed Elam as a weakness in our secondary last season and part way through this season because he seemed like a low-impact player. He was just...there. That has changed the past couple of weeks, and Elam really broke out for a big game against the Jaguars.

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After the Browns' 34-14 victory over the Patriots, I don't think there is any doubt that running back Peyton Hillis deserves the game ball again. In all three Cleveland victories, he has been instrumental in closing out the game with punishing runs. More than any other game this season though, his impact was evident against the Patriots. He registered career highs across the board in carries (29), rushing yards (184), and touchdowns (2). He also added 3 catches for 36 yards.

He also helped the efficiency of rookie quarterback Colt McCoy, who completed 73.6% of his passes. Many of those completions came off of playaction. On NBC's Football Night in America on Sunday Night, analyst Tony Dungy showed a play in which linebacker Jared Mayo came up on a playaction. As soon as McCoy set, he was able to fire to Mayo's vacated coverage position, netting an easy 24-yard completion to tight end Ben Watson.

The Browns are a hot football team right now, but it looks more and more like the threat of Hillis must be present. In that case, that places extra emphasis on the most important postion the team is lacking right now: a good backup running back.

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I usually have a game ball ready to give to someone, but this week there were a lot of heroes in the Cleveland Browns' 30-17 win over the New Orleans Saints. Therefore, I'm going to let you guys vote on which player you think should receive the game ball. I've narrowed it down to the individuals who I think are the top four candidates; if you think it should be given to a player (coaches are not eligible) not listed, choose "other" and tell us who that player is in the comments section.

After the jump, I briefly explain why each player is a candidate in the poll. To ensure that bias is not involved in the "list" of players I am describing, I am not ranking them in order of my voting, but rather based on the traditional offense-defense position order (i.e. QB, RB, FB, WR, TE, OL, DL, LB, DB, ST).

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Although the Browns not having an interception for their past three games, they've forced fumbles against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Atlanta Falcons thanks to the play of Scott Fujita. While it's tough to give a game ball after a loss, there's no shame in what the defense did overall against Atlanta in giving up just 13 points.

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Despite the fact that the Cleveland Browns lost to the Baltimore Ravens by a final score of 24-17 on Sunday, one player certainly deserves a game ball for his efforts: running back Peyton Hillis.

Hillis did something that is a rarity in the NFL: he ran for more than 100 yards against the Ravens' defense. To be more specific, he ran for 144 yards and 1 touchdown on 22 carries. There are times when one big run can inflate a runner's yards-per-carry average. For the game, Hillis averaged 6.5 yards per carry thanks to a 48-yard burst toward the end of the third quarter that helped give the Browns a fourth-quarter lead. Even if you take away that run though, Hillis still managed to run for 4.57 yards per carry.

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