Last week, the entire defense deserved a game ball against the Pittsburgh Steelers. This week, I don't think anybody on the defense deserved any props. Matt Cassel, Jamaal Charles, and Chris Chambers had their way with our defense. Cassel threw for 331 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 114 of those yards going to Chambers. On the ground, Charles had 154 yards and a touchdown.
There were two stars on the team today -- one on offense and one on special teams.
On offense, RB Jerome Harrison nearly broke the NFL rushing record with 286 yards and 3 touchdowns. He shattered Jim Brown's record that had been held since 1961, and Harrison's single-game mark is by far the highest in the league this season.
Harrison did have a 71-yard burst to inflate his stats, but most of his carries seemed to go between 5-10 yards, even with the Chiefs consistently stacking nine players in the box. Brady Quinn couldn't capitalize on Harrison's running with good playaction passes, but it did set up a key playaction bootleg in which Quinn took off for 24 yards.
The other man of the hour is Joshua Cribbs, again. Cribbs returned two kicks for touchdowns in the first half -- one for 100 yards and the other for 103 yards. He set the NFL record for most career kick return touchdowns on his first try, and then broke his own record on the second try.
There was a somewhat controversial play at the end of the game. Harrison had the chance to go down at the one-yard line and then set up a field goal. Instead, Harrison took it in to give the Browns a seven-point cushion. I agree with what Harrison did, because more times than not, the opposing team won't be able to drive for a score. They almost did, but Cassel's pathetic-looking final pass attempt was batted away to seal the victory.
A 1-11 start, and now two wins in a row. We might be hurting our draft position, but with Mangini's job on the line, I'm sure that's the last thing on his mind.