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Nathan Aronoff

HOW JAKE BROWNING GOT HIS SWAGGER BACK

THIS ARTICLE IS PART 3 OF A TRILOGY DISCUSSING JAKE BROWNING


JAKE BROWNING WILL BE JUST FINE:

Jake Browning has only started four games this season. The small sample size fits the criteria of my concern. However, after spending a lot of time on pro-football-reference.com, I’ve determined that Jake Browning’s case is different for the following reasons.


DID BROWNING ACTUALLY REGRESS AFTER 2016?:

Every quarterback who had this sudden resurgence followed by a fall-off added an aspect to their game at the beginning of the resurgence period, however, Jake Browning always had the skills that he’s shown over the past month, but he simply failed to put it all together. To discover what triggered his resurgence, let’s find out why he fell off in 2017, to begin with. 

Browning may have fallen off after his 2016 season because, between 2017 and 2018, his three best receivers were drafted into the NFL. In Browning’s best season, 2016, 2,019 of his 3,430 passing yards, and 33 of his 43 touchdowns (approximately 67.8% of his production) were accounted for by wide receivers John Ross and Dante Pettis, and tight end Will Dissly. After Ross, Pettis, and Dissly were drafted into the NFL, Washington failed to replace them, as Pettis is still the most recent Washington receiver to be selected in the NFL draft. Furthermore, Ross and Pettis, who were both top 50 picks in the NFL draft, failed in the NFL. Both were cut before the end of their rookie contracts and after bouncing around a couple of other teams, are currently out of the NFL. The only explanation for their lack of success after college is that the only reason they were successful in college, to begin with, is that their quarterback was Jake Browning. In addition, while Browning didn’t light up the stat sheet in 2017 and 2018, he almost found a way to win.  Out of Washington's final 29 games started by Browning, they won 22, and out of Washington’s first 29 games not started by Browning, they only won 15. In his last two seasons as a Huskie, Browning was clearly being held back by a poor surrounding cast, and instead of getting credit for single-handedly winning games, he was being told that he was blowing his chance to make it in the NFL! 


THE IMPORTANCE OF “SWAGGER”:

Anybody who’s played competitive sports knows the importance of confidence and visualizing success. If you don’t believe that you can be successful, there’s no chance you will be successful. How was Browning supposed to believe that he could be successful after doing all he possibly could for two years, and being told that he’s going to have to do much more to be successful? Jake Browning lost his confidence, his moxy, his “swagger”, or the way Joe Burrow fans call it: his “it” factor. In his first two games this season he didn’t have it either. Nevertheless, in the third quarter of that Monday night football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Ja’Marr Chase helped Browning make one electrifying play that jolted the belief back into Jake Browning. Said play was enough to bring back his “it” factor for the rest of the game, which resulted in an exhilarating overtime victory. Between the 76-yard touchdown, and the walk-off win, Jake Browning was reminded of what it feels like to overachieve, he was reminded that he’s still the quarterback who threw 91 touchdown passes in 2014, and he was reminded that he’s still the quarterback who outperformed Patrick Mahomes in 2016, and he got his “swagger” back. The man in the earlier clip from the Bengals’ sideline lacks anything but confidence. In his first two games this season, Browning had 5.67 yards per attempt, but since he refound the confidence to make big plays, he’s averaging 9.25 yards per attempt. 


AFTER READING 3 ARTICLES, YOU’VE FINALLY REACHED MY CONCLUSION: 

The Bengals’ three remaining opponents, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Cleveland Browns, each present a unique challenge. If Jake Browning can punch his team a ticket to a wildcard matchup by winning two out of three, this Bengals team can become dangerous. Cincinnati is not a team anybody wants to face, while I don’t believe the Bengals will win the Super Bowl, they might just be the reason a handful of teams won’t win the Super Bowl either.


*Here’s a three-minute clip that I liked from Ryan Clark’s post-game show, where he discusses what the game versus the Jaguars meant, and the impact it would have on Browning and the team going forward. Click here.



RELEVANT FOOTBALL REFERENCE PAGES:











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