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Brian Hoyer led an incredible 4th quarter comeback on Sunday against the Titans, erasing a 25-point deficit. The 25-point comeback was the most in NFL history by a road team. It really was a tale of two halves. The Browns looked horrendous (specifically on defense) in the first half, but put together an impressive second half to secure the Music City Comeback. After all that, let's take a look at the weekly power rankings to see where the Browns check in.
SB Nation: 21
"The Browns squeaked out a comeback win over the Charlie Whitehurst-led Titans."
"Down in the second half of the rankings, the Saints, Browns and Bills also move up."
Yahoo! Sports: 22
"Imagine if the NFL had done the right thing and not given Josh Gordon that 10-game suspension, if he would have gotten the same fair treatment Wes Welker did. Imagine putting an elite playmaker like that on this team, which is playing pretty well without him."
CBS Sports: 24
"Brian Hoyer is doing a lot of good things. I am more concerned about the defense."
Pro Football Talk: 21
"If the Browns had gotten blown out in Jimmy Haslam’s home state of Tennessee, he possibly would have traded for Jim Harbaugh this week."
| Current Wk. | Last Wk. | Up/Down | Best To Date (week) | |
| SB Nation | 21 | 22 | +1 | 21 (6) |
| Yahoo! Sports | 22 | 25 | +3 | 22 (6) |
| CBS Sports | 24 | 24 | - | 21 (3) |
| ProFootballTalk | 21 | 22 | +1 | 21 (3/6) |
Last week I mentioned that a win in Nashville could see the Browns trending upwards in the weekly power rankings. That was assuming they came out and won handily against the Titans. Obviously that wasn't the case.
With the way the Browns played Sunday, it's no surprise that the weekly round up has them trending in the right direction, if only slightly. I agree with most of the above rankings, having the Browns somewhere around 20-22 seems about right to me.
I do want to quickly touch on the point Yahoo makes regarding Josh Gordon. I know we've torn apart the suspension ad nauseum, but it is worth at least pointing out that this team would be incredibly different with Gordon on the field. I know it does us no good to harp on it and dream about "what could've been," but it's at least worth touching on briefly. Gordon is an elite playmaker, and if the next few weeks go as we hope (and plan), things could be very interesting when he returns.
What say you, Browns fans? Think having the Browns ranked around 21/22 seems fair?