“A Complete Surprise” - Rich on the Browns’ 3-1 Start after Their TNF Win vs the Steelers

To explain what the Browns pulled off on Thursday night, Rich fired up the show's DeLorean and went back to November 23, 1986.

That day, Cleveland hosted a 4-7 Steelers team coached by Chuck Noll and quarterbacked by Mark Malone. Even so, the Browns needed overtime, and Bernie Kosar found Webster Slaughter for 36 yards to win it 37-31. Marty Schottenheimer's Browns rode play like that all the way to the AFC Championship Game, where they gave up a long drive to John Elway and lost in overtime on a Rich Karlis field goal.

Until Thursday night, that was the last time the Browns had beaten the Steelers for a fifth straight time at home. Those 1986 Browns went on to beat Pittsburgh two more times by the lake. These Browns just matched the five.

"These Browns are a complete surprise for most," Rich said. "Maybe not to everyone in that locker room."

Remember where this started. Cleveland got boat-raced by the Jaguars in week one, and people wondered whether Deshaun Watson would even be the starter by week three given his relationship with the fans. Now the Browns have won three straight.

Watson played a first half that Rich said was reminiscent of his heyday in Houston. The second half was rougher, with turnovers and trouble moving the ball, and the Steelers came back to tie it at 24. Jared Verse jumped offside on a two-point try, letting Aaron Rodgers sneak it in easily. There were a lot of penalties.

But the Browns put their foot in the ground and drove into range for Andre Szmyt. Rich had fun with the spelling of the kicker's last name, which looks like "submiss," exactly what you do not want from a kicker in that spot. If he missed, the Steelers would get the ball back near midfield with their own assassin of a kicker waiting. He did not miss. The 56-yarder, the longest of his career, "looked like it would be good from 70," Rich said.

The rallying cry has worked, too. The Browns are 3-0 since Mike Tomlin said "the Browns is the Browns" on NBC, and 2-0 since Todd Monken responded with a profane rejection of "Browns are going to Browns" after their first win in Tampa.

Rich gave credit to general manager Andrew Berry for drafting studs over the last couple of years, and the box score backed him up. Denzel Boston had four catches for 89 yards, including the first big field-flipper of the night. KC Concepcion added 64 yards on five catches. Quinshon Judkins ran 17 times for 53 yards and a touchdown and caught six passes for 43 more. Harold Fannin Jr. scored again after two touchdowns the week before. Carson Schwesinger, the reigning defensive rookie of the year, led the team with nine tackles, and Emmanuel McNeil-Warren led with two passes defensed.

Then there is Watson, a quarterback trying to redeem himself in every possible way. Football-wise, Rich said, he is well on his way. Off the field is another matter. Rich posted that Watson looked like he had turned back the clock, and the response from his followers on Threads was livid. "He's got a long way to go there," Rich said. The cheers at home help, at least on the field.

The man pulling it together is the coach nobody understood hiring. "Why are they hiring Todd Monken? I don't think we're asking that anymore, are we?" Rich asked. The 60-year-old is in his first crack at the job, with a roster of players in some cases nearly a third of his age, and he is crushing it.

Monken was humble about the 3-1 start. "If you'd have got me at 45, you wouldn't have gotten the best version of me," he said, crediting the players and coaches he has been around. "I feel like I still got juice." What he wants most is for the games to matter. "That's what we want to be in. That's what our fans want to be in. And that's what we're going to fight for every day."

On the first night of October, Cleveland looked up at no one in the AFC North. The Jets are next, and the Browns will be favored. Then the Ravens come to town, and Rich can already picture it. If Cleveland is 4-1 and wins that one, it is in first place by its lonesome, having held serve at home against both Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

"This is serious," Rich said. "What's being cooked up right now."