The Browns smothered the Bengals in all facets of the game in a 24-3 primetime victory last night. Most impressively: the Browns looked no part the 6½-point underdog. While those in the national media might have been surprised, nobody inside the Browns locker room seemed to be.
Enter former OSU great Donte Whitner Hitner.
Hitner brings the same kind of steel All-Pro T.J. Ward brought before him, but Donte is from Cleveland (he's a Glenville alumnus). He understands what a good Browns team means to the city. That's why the Browns are giving him up to $28 million.
But with the Browns' legitimacy hanging in the balance, first-year defensive coordinator Jim O'Neil turned to his enforcer.
From Marla Ridenour of The Akron Beacon Journal:
It was Thursday morning, hours before arguably the Browns’ biggest game since 2007. The defense was meeting at the Renaissance, the team hotel. Before the last session of the day concluded, coordinator Jim O’Neil asked his 29-year-old strong safety to say something.
Whitner’s teammates had no idea what was in store. But when they left, defensive end Paul Kruger told cornerback Joe Haden that’s what longtime Baltimore Ravens captain Ray Lewis used to sound like before every game.
“Maybe I did say that,” Kruger said. “It has some similarities. He spoke with passion and he got everybody on a level where you really felt his dedication to us and he knows that’s a reciprocated feeling. It was more of an emotional speech than probably we’ve heard thus far.”
Whitner says he gave the defense his story on "being a Cleveland kid, the hardship I went through as a kid." He says the game of football is "easy" compared to the game of life.
"I get helped us today. We came out and played our best game as a defense."
How much does Whitner love playing for the Browns? He elaborated after practice last week:
"Sometimes you just wake up in the morning and you’re like, ‘Man, I’m playing for the Cleveland Browns,’” he said following practice. “Being from Cleveland, driving to work, it still hasn’t hit me yet that I’m playing for my hometown team, a team I always grew up rooting for.
“That’s all I meant by it. Sometimes you wake up and you’re like, ‘Man, it’s a reality.’”
Granted, I've never had $28 million — or even $1 million, if you can believe it — but I think that's a feeling $50 million couldn't buy.
The Cleveland Browns are 6-3 and currently tied for first place in the AFC North.
