The Cleveland Browns traveled to Houston to face the Houston Texans in Week 16 and walked away with a dominant 36-22 victory. For the Browns, Amari Cooper and Joe Flacco had performances to remember.
The offensive explosion took the league by notice. How is the NFL world reacting?
NFL Word Reacts to Browns’ Elite Performances
The Browns’ offense was effective all day, with 419 total yards, but the run game was not. The Browns’ leading rusher was Jerome Ford, who had 25 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. He averaged just 1.7 yards per attempt. The team as a whole rushed for just 55 yards.
The Browns’ offense was a product of the passing game. Quarterback Joe Flacco passed for 368 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Flacco’s 300-yard game gave him his first three-game stretch of 300+ passing yards in his lengthy career. He has passed for 1,307 yards, 10 touchdowns, and seven interceptions this season.
“Joe Flacco has been blacked out for an entire drive. He looks like Josh Allen. I have no idea what is happening,” said Robert Mays of The Athletic. “Flacco hasn’t started a full season since 2017, his second-to-last season with the Baltimore Ravens.”
“He made some amazing plays,” said head coach Kevin Stefanski of Flacco’s performance. Flacco is currently on a one-year deal with the Browns worth $2.5 million. At 39 years old, he will be an unrestricted free agent in 2024. The Browns will have the option to bring him back after the season.
Even with Flacco’s performance, wide receiver Amari Cooper was the best player on the field. “Player of the day, COOP,” said one NFL fan on X (formerly known as Twitter).
What a day for Coop.
📺: #CLEvsHOU on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/UIg1XAjsX3 pic.twitter.com/BjMyIl0sP5— NFL (@NFL) December 24, 2023
Cooper caught 11 passes on 15 targets for 265 yards and two touchdowns. His performance broke the Browns’ franchise single-game receiving record. The record was previously held by Josh Gordon, who had 261 yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2013.
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Cooper’s performance comes just one week after catching four passes for 109 yards and a touchdown against the Chicago Bears in Week 15. He is in his second season with the Browns after being traded by the Dallas Cowboys. Cooper caught 78 passes for 1,160 yards and nine touchdowns in his first season with Cleveland.
Cooper now has 72 catches for 1,250 yards and five touchdowns in 2023. Statistically, that is the best season of his career, beating out his 2019 season in Dallas when he caught 79 passes for 1,189 yards and eight touchdowns. He is the first receiver in Browns history to have back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
On top of all of that, the 265 yards is his third 200+ yard game in his career, all three coming with different teams. He had a 226-yard game with the Cowboys and a 210-yard game with the Las Vegas Raiders. “… Amari … Amari Cooper,” said Joe Flacco when asked what was clicking offensively. “He’s just a really good football player.”
The Browns had a 36-7 lead before the Texans scored 15 unanswered points. Those points came after Houston’s decision to bench quarterback Case Keenum in favor of Davis Mills. Mills passed for 149 yards and two touchdowns as opposed to Keenum, who passed for 62 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions.
The win for Cleveland improved them to 10-5, while it dropped Houston to 8-7. Cleveland’s playoff hopes significantly improved, as they would likely just need one more win to secure a playoff spot. Houston, on the other hand, is hanging on by a thread with starting quarterback C.J. Stroud out with a concussion.
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