Daily Dawg Tags: Finally earning positive grades in Week 16
Spanning the virtual globe to bring you the latest news about the Cleveland Browns and the NFL – these are your Daily Dawg Tags for Tuesday, Dec. 27.
There was not much room to be positive when writing about the Cleveland Browns this season. There is still inherent optimism in writing about the team, but discussing 14 straight losses was not exactly fun.
This all changed this past weekend when the Browns beat the San Diego Chargers, ending the talks of 0-16 and causing the Chargers to have a miserable flight home on Christmas Eve. Oh, and their coach is going to get fired. All of this goes with losing to the Browns.
But the win was great for the Browns, who actually pieced together a solid game for the first time all season. And for the first time all year there were many reasons to be positive in our weekly game grades, which is included in the links portion of this post.
Every position group didn’t play a great game, but the quarterback position played well and that alone is enough to rejoice for at least one week. The defense also played its best game of the season, with Jamie Meder picking up the play of the game on special teams.
The all-around great performance deserves to be celebrated, even if the team is still 1-14. Let’s look at that and more in today’s edition of the Daily Dawg Tags.
Cleveland Browns news:
Cleveland Browns: Grades from thrilling victory over the Chargers
"At the beginning of Week 16’s game, it had been 377 days since the Cleveland Browns last won a game."
No need to mock Browns for celebrating first win
"Cleveland Browns fans didn’t expect much in 2016. No one expected a playoff berth and even fewer expected the team to win more than three or four games."
Peter King gives Jamie Meder, Hue Jackson weekly awards (Factory of Sadness)
"The MMQB’s Peter King is pretty jazzed over the Cleveland Browns first win. The longtime football scribe wished Cleveland a Merry Christmas after their football team defeated the Chargers in last-second fashion."
Cleveland Browns can move on from Robert Griffin III (NFL Spin Zone)
"A true Christmas (Eve) miracle occurred at FirstEnergy Stadium on Saturday afternoon."
NFL news:
Derek Carr to miss 6-8 weeks after breaking fibula (FanSided)
"If you’re a fan of the Oakland Raiders, this is not going to sit well with most of you."
Marcus Mariota to have surgery, expected for OTAs (ESPN.com)
"Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota, who will have surgery to insert a plate to support his fractured right fibula, will need four to five months to recover and should return in time for offeseason OTAs, coach Mike Mularkey said Monday."
Bucs’ Dirk Koetter mum on Martin’s status for Week 17 (NFL.com)
"The Bucs turned heads on Saturday when they made Doug Martin a healthy scratch."