In the big world of football stuff, where the game is all intense and full of action, something pretty cool happened in Philly. The Browns, those football heroes, had most of their main players chilling on the sidelines in regular clothes after a couple of super tough days practicing with the Eagles. And guess what? Some of their teammates totally rocked it in the game against Philly, which ended up in an 18-18 tie. But, wait for it, some other players did things that made people go, “Huh?”
So, like, everyone was watching this dude Cade York, who’s the Browns’ main kicker. He had messed up a couple of kicks earlier in the pre-season – one from 49 yards against the Jets and another from 46 yards against the Commanders. Both times, he kicked it and the ball just went way off to the right.
But guess what? This time he kicked three balls in a row and they all went in! It was like he was a kicking machine or something. But then, when the score was all tied up at 18, and everyone was on the edge of their seats, he tried to kick another one to win the game. And guess what? He missed it. Twice! First time, he kicked it from 47 yards and it went way off to the right again. But, whoa, lucky him, the Eagles messed up, so he got another try. This time, he had an easier shot from 41 yards, but oh boy, he kicked it way off to the left.
And, like, those misses were kind of a bummer, you know? ‘Cause before that, he kicked some really good ones – like from 43 and 37 yards in the first half, and then another one from 43 yards in the last part of the game.
But the Browns, they’re like super fans of York, and they’ve been all in on his skills this pre-season. He did this thing in practice against the Eagles where he kicked six balls and they all went in, even from really far away like 43, 47, 49, and even 54 yards! So, when he made those first two kicks in the game, the Browns were all pumped up. He even made one more kick from 43 yards later in the game to make the score 18-10, and then he kicked an extra point after Austin Watkins caught a touchdown.
The special teams coach, Bubba Ventrone, was all like, “Man, this dude’s got talent, and he’s been practicing so hard. Even though the games didn’t go the way we wanted, he’s been doing his thing.”
But, you know, even though the Browns totally believe in York, those missed kicks at the end are kind of making them worry a bit.
And then, oh my goodness, let’s talk about Dorian Thompson-Robinson, the quarterback. He’s like the third-string quarterback, which is, like, not the super main one, you know? He’s from UCLA, and he’s all about toughness and being awesome. In this game, he was in for just one half, and he threw the ball 25 times, completing 13 of them. But guess what? No touchdowns, and no interceptions! His rating thing was 72.8, which is like, not too shabby.
So, like, in the beginning, he led the Browns all the way from their 23 to super close to the goal line. But then, oh no, the ball got taken away from the running dude, John Kelly Jr., and it turned into a safety instead of a touchdown. This happened before against the Commanders too. But this time, it was linebacker Mohamoud Diabate who tackled running back Kenneth Gainwell in the end zone and got the Browns on the scoreboard.
Thompson-Robinson also had this cool connection thing going on with Cedric Tillman, who’s also from his old high school in Vegas. They made these really awesome plays together – like a 15-yard throw that helped them get past a tough situation, and this huge 36-yard throw where Tillman was, like, way faster than everyone else. It was so cool, they looked like they were having a blast out there.
And oh my gosh, in the first quarter, Thompson-Robinson did this super brave thing where he blocked this guy, Edmunds, even though it was kind of against the rules. But his teammates were all like, “Yeah, that’s awesome!” Even Deshaun Watson, who’s like a big deal quarterback, said he liked Thompson-Robinson’s energy.
Watkins, the receiver, was also totally killing it. He caught two passes in a row, and then they kicked a field goal and made the score 5-3. He caught a bunch more passes too, and by the end of the first half, he had 69 yards and an average of, like, 17.3 yards per catch. He’s really making a case to be on the main team, especially ’cause there are some injuries.
But, like, not everything was all rainbows and sunshine. There’s this other guy, Schwartz, who had a really good practice against the Eagles, but then in the game, he caught only one out of four passes in the first half. And later on, he only caught two out of seven passes. So, you know, not exactly his best day.
