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Internet speculates that #RallyPossum was the key to the Browns first win since 2016

Posted at 7:06 AM, Sep 21, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-21 12:28:33-04

The Cleveland Browns won their first football game since Christmas Eve 2016 on Thursday night – but was it rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield’s 201 yards and the team's two touchdowns, or was it all thanks to #RallyPossum?

An opossum was first spotted loose in Section 101 of Cleveland's FirstEnergy Stadium at about 7:30 p.m. Minutes later, with hands as deft as receiver Jarvis Landry’s, a fan sporting a number 99 jersey grabbed the waylaid marsupial by its tail and placed it gingerly in a box. It, apparently, was a sign of the victory to come.

The Browns won the game, but the opossum may have won the internet Thursday night.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Steve Bertolino (@steve_bertolino) on

 

The tweet from @BustedCoverage with the opossum capture on video had over 1.7 million views as of Friday morning, and the responses were amazing:

By Friday morning, "Rally Possum" even had its own t-shirt, because of course it does:

It also has its own Twitter account now - @possum_rally, featuring gems like this:

Was it a cursed opossum lurking in the stadium for the last two years, and capturing him finally lifted the curse?

Was the opossum actually a genie that granted Browns fans' wishes upon its capture?

Was it just a funny thing that happened? We may never know.

Editor's Note: Possom or Opossom? The marsupial native to North America is an opossum, while a slightly different creature native to Australia is written "possum." So, while the internet may refer to it as the Rally Possum, the actual animal is an opossum.