Baker Mayfield took a knee, and the Bud Light fridges opened all across the Cleveland area.
It was a special moment on that warm Thursday night at FirstEnergy Stadium, when the Browns toppled the Jets, 21-17, to secure their first win since Christmas Eve 2016. The night, and everything that followed in the Browns' resurgent 2018 season, were honored Wednesday as the "Best Moment" in Cleveland sports at the 19th Greater Cleveland Sports Awards.
Browns general manager John Dorsey accepted the award. Earlier in the night, quarterback Baker Mayfield was named Cleveland’s Professional Athlete of the Year.
"I'm not going to diminish the moment here but I think these people at the Cleveland Browns table right now want to tell you one thing: We've got a lot more of these moments coming up in the future," Dorsey said.
The Browns' win over the Jets snapped the team's 19-game winless streak and served as the first of seven victories for Cleveland in 2018. The seven-win improvement was the biggest in Browns' history. Five of those wins came at home, as the Browns posted their best record at FirstEnergy Stadium since 2007.
It was a nice start, but Dorsey focused his acceptance speech almost exclusively on the future.
"Let's be competitive in the AFC North," Dorsey said. "Let's dare to take that challenge and step up to the next level."
