The Cleveland Browns were down by 10 points, and they just watched their starting quarterback, Brian Hoyer, lie on the ground after suffering a right knee injury while running for a first down.
Enter Brandon Weeden.
After missing two weeks because of a sprained right thumb suffered in a 14-6 loss at Baltimore on Sept. 15, Weeden completed 13 of 24 attempts for 197 yards and one touchdown without an interception, and led the team (3-2) to a 37-24 victory over the Buffalo Bills (2-3) at FirstEnergy Stadium Thursday night.
“It was basically, ‘Here we go,’” Weeden recalled. “This football team has relied on me. Whether or not I’ve been in there the past couple weeks, this team has relied on me. The guys around me played really (well) today.”
Down, 10-3, with time winding down in the first half, Weeden and the Browns faced a first-and-10 from their own 26-yard line. Undaunted by the pressure from Buffalo’s defense, Weeden engineered a 14-play, 74-yard drive that running back Willis McGahee capped off with a one-yard touchdown run, the Browns’ first on the season and his first with the team.
“That’s what I have expected from him, and that doesn’t surprise me about him,” coach Rob Chudzinski said of Weeden. “For going through that and coming back after watching Brian do a great job for the couple of weeks that he was playing, and responding the way he did says a lot about Brandon.
“I expect them to go out, play and prepare and be prepared at that position to lead our team. It doesn’t matter who is there. I have said before, many times, that I have confidence in all three guys. The team has played well, and I think those guys have shown that in the last couple of weeks.”
Weeden was healthy enough to practice ahead of the Thursday Night Football game against the Bills, but Chudzinski elected to start Hoyer against the Bills on the short week. Undeterred by the decision, Weeden knew he had to do whatever he could to help the team.
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