Browns Find Reason for Hope in Opening Loss to Steelers

For the 10th straight year, the Cleveland Browns have opened their season with a loss. But perhaps for the first time in that unsettling decade, their Week 1 stumble also carries a lot of hope for the immediate future.

The game, against the rival Steelers in Pittsburgh, started about as poorly as possible. The vaunted Browns defense gave up 364 yards of total offense in the first half, with missed tackles and terrible coverage being the order of the day.

Even shutdown cornerback Joe Haden was burned repeatedly by Pittsburgh's top receiver, Antonio Brown, who had five targets, five catches, 116 yards and a touchdown. The front seven allowed 69 rushing yards and a touchdown to running back Le'Veon Bell. The Steelers receivers had gains of 41 yards (Brown), 40 yards (Markus Wheaton) and 30 yards (Bell).

The offense struggled just as much.

Quarterback Brian Hoyer had only 57 yards on four completions in the first half and was sacked twice. Only tight end Jordan Cameron made a positive impact—a lone 47-yard reception—and then promptly left the field with a shoulder injury, never to return. Starting running back Ben Tate also exited the game with a knee injury and was ruled out.

In total, the Browns had just three first downs in the first half, converted only one of seven third-down attempts and managed only a field goal. The offense had just 101 total yards, while Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had 278 passing yards to his name.

The Browns went into halftime down 27-3, and it seemed it would only get worse for the team in the final two quarters.

However, something amazing happened. The Browns didn't resign themselves to their fate. Instead, they rallied. And they nearly won. Against the rival Steelers. In Pittsburgh.

	1st Half	2nd Half
Yds.	101	279
Yds. Allowed	364	126
Points	3	24
Points Allowed	27	3
Rush Yds.	62	121
Rush Yds. Allowed	90	37
Hoyer Pass Yds.	57	173
Roethlisberger Pass Yds.	278	87

Until the final five seconds of the game, the Browns defense held the Steelers scoreless in the second half while their offense put up 24 unanswered points. It began with the first drive of the third quarter, a six-play, 80-yard affair that culminated in backup rookie rusher Isaiah Crowell's three-yard touchdown.

The Browns—and Crowell—scored again on the very next drive, making it two touchdowns in four minutes and 22 seconds. Suddenly, the Steelers' lead narrowed to 10 points. The Browns looked like a changed team in every way.

That extended to the defense as well.

There was, of course, the fact that the Steelers didn't score again until the game-winning field goal. There was the fact that Brown didn't catch a single pass in the second half and saw only one target. Roethlisberger was held to only 87 second-half passing yards and was sacked three times. Pittsburgh's run game also netted a mere 37 yards in the second half.

Ultimately, Hoyer ended the day with 19 completions on 31 attempts for 230 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and three sacks. The run game flourished as well, with Terrance West finishing the day with 16 carries for 100 yards—a 6.3 yards-per-carry average—while Crowell added 32 yards on five carries and two touchdowns.

A switch flipped at halftime. Head coach Mike Pettine attributed it not to what he and the staff said to the players, but what the players said to each other.

Hoyer told his teammates to "battle back." And it's certain that he used even stronger language, because this was a possessed squad in the second half.

Though the Browns did not win, the fact that an offense full of also-rans came together to score 24 second-half points is impressive. The fact that the defense didn't let the first half affect its ability to play well in the second is equally so.

Browns teams of the past might have resigned themselves to their fate—not this one.

Cleveland's offense dominated in the second half with no Josh Gordon, Cameron or Tate. Hoyer showed his resiliency in the game's latter quarters, allowing Johnny Manziel to remain on the bench as the coaches intended. In the first half, that decision seemed questionable. By the end of the game, it was clear why Hoyer got the nod.

As Chris Chase of USA Today Sports notes, Hoyer proved on Sunday he is "the quarterback who gives Cleveland its best chance to win."

"

If there was still a question about whether Brian Hoyer should be the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, it was settled on Sunday. Hoyer showed he’s the real deal and the quarterback who gives the Browns the best chance to win football games and make a surprise push for the NFL playoffs. Sorry, Johnny Football. That bench just got a little warmer.

"

At the same time, the defense ended the day looking like the unit Pettine intended to field.

The Browns didn't get the win, but there were victories on Sunday. And more importantly, there's hope.

The first three weeks of Cleveland's 2014 schedule seemed brutal—the Steelers in Pittsburgh, the New Orleans Saints in Cleveland next week and the Baltimore Ravens at home in Week 3. But now, the Saints don't seem so scary, and the Ravens—who were bested by the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-16, in Baltimore on Sunday—look beatable.

Suddenly, a 0-1 start to the season doesn't feel the same way it did in years past. The win-loss record might look familiar, but the way the team reacted, adapted and fought in the second half hints that positive change is underway.