Kevin Stefanski and Cleveland Browns make a statement

The Cleveland Browns handled the Bengals on Thursday Night Football

After a disappointing loss in Week 1, the Cleveland Browns came back on short rest and got a much-needed win on Thursday Night Football vs. the Cincinnati Bengals. While there is still a need for improvement, especially on the defensive side of the ball, the most important thing was getting the win.

Now with 10 days of rest, the Browns can focus on getting healthy and correcting items for their next game vs. the Washington Football team. It was apparent last night that the team’s in desperate need of getting linebackers Jacob Phillips and Mack Wilson back. The Bengals exposed the weak spot and at times moved the ball at will against the Browns defense.

The two biggest takeaways from last night were in my opinion, culture-changing drives. These were situations that have just never happened in the past and show the first-year head coach Kevin Stefanski has already made a difference.

The first happened in the third quarter when the Browns were stopped on the goal line. After a long run by Nick Chubb that was originally ruled a touchdown, the call was overturned with the ball placed on the one-yard line. Cleveland had four attempts to push it in and failed to do so.

While that was demoralizing as a fan, and most Browns fans quickly feared the worse, the defensive responded. The very next series Myles Garrett had a strip-sack and gave the Browns the ball right back on the one-yard line where they punched it in two plays later with Chubb.

The last item that was so great to see was a six-play 75-yard drive in two minutes that was nothing but running plays to take a 35 to 23 lead in the fourth quarter. After Baker Mayfield made his only mistake of the night on an interception, Joe Burrow took the Bengals down the field to bring the Bengals within five points.

The old offensive would have stalled after three punts and given the ball right back to the Bengals and pinned all the pressure on the defense to get a stop. But no, this Stefanski offense marched the ball down the field and put the game out of reach.

It may seem small, but those two situations got the Browns a win last night and could put them on a solid path forward.