The more I think about Phil Dawson’s surreal screwball — 49 yards from snow to stanchion — the more it represents a pure microcosm of the Browns’ entire season. Ride with me through this.
It started off as a dubious premise to begin with. A questionable decision by a coach who, at the season’s outset, was questionable himself. The odds were against him, the team, and this kick getting anywhere.
When foot first met ball, it looked way off course and inadequate to the task.
But despite all appearances, there was a logic behind it, and carrying power too. For such a long shot, the ball didn’t ascend all that much, with the question open the whole way whether its force would be sufficient to exceed the goal.
The wind represents chance, luck, those factors that must be accounted for but can’t be controlled. This time, most unusually, it favored the Browns. The kick veered on course and landed precisely on target, with no room to spare.
That Dawson hit the support bar for the second time in a month, echoing the charmed double doink in Baltimore, was pure magic. Or, if you prefer, an insistent message from Fate itself.
This from a kicker whose range was doubted by many — especially in the colder, late-season weather — yet who has remained the sole steadfast factor for this franchise since its resurrection. Believeland indeed.
No one knows how the rest of this scintillating season will play out for the Browns. Anything from an idle January to a miraculous February remains in range, in theory. But now there’s no doubt about this 2007 Cleveland team. It’s reached the bar and exceeded it.
It’s good.
