Cleveland Browns – Still Alive For AFC North After Bye Week

October 5, 2008 By 2 Comments

Whats next? Thats what you are probably thinking if you are a Browns fan. There are a few positives that loom in light of all of the apparent negatives involving what was supposed to be a runaway season for the Brownies.

First, no AFC North team has clearly run away with the division. Yes, the Ravens can play defense, they always could. But how many games can the Ravens win scoring less that 20 points per game? The Steelers appear to be a mess offensively with Big Ben Roethlisberger dealing with injuries, along with Rashard Mendenhall out for the year and Willie Parker no where near 100 percent. Their backfield is now featuring Mewelde Moore and Najeh Davenport, which if they were any good, Pittsburgh would not have drafted a running back in the first round, right? That leads us to the Bungles, or Bengals, which ever you prefer. They again have no defense, and offensively, they have turned to former-Texas-standout-now-running-back-bust Cedric Benson. This compiled with an injured Carson Palmer gives me hope as a Browns fan.

This unfortunately does not help us with the fact that we traded our entire draft this year to improve our defense, which statistically has not happened yet. More depressing than our defense, which has kept us in a few games this year, is our offense, or lack thereof. Braylon Edwards, Kellen Winslow, Donte Stallwortderek anderson braylon edwardsh, Jamal Lewis and Derek Anderson, in conjunction with an exceptional offensive line sounds like a Pro Bowl match made in heaven right? Not yet. This group cannot punch it into the end zone, or has not consistently yet this year, and is killing our defense with our onslaught of three and outs. Our play calling is conservative at best, which is not allowing our play makers to make plays. We have talent but we are playing not to lose. The Browns offense was so successful last year because of their aggressive play calling. They were not afraid to take chances which led to countless big plays. We must take the handcuffs off of Derek Anderson, and if he can’t get the job done, Brady Quinn has looked fantastic in preseason and has more than earned a shot at the starting quarterback job if Derek Anderson continues to struggle.

The Cleveland Browns are far from out of winning the AFC North division, but week 6 is as close to a must win as you can have at this point of the season to keep winning the division a reality. I do not see a wild card being an option out of the AFC north this year, meaning the Browns must stay in the hunt for the AFC North division title.

[tags]cleveland browns, afc north, pittsburgh steelers, baltimore ravens, cincinnati bengals, NFL, football[/tags]

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  • http://www.midwestsportsfans.com Jerod Morris

    I like the optimism. Depending on how the Steelers game goes tonight, the Browns could potentially be only one game back in the loss column heading into next week. Considering how poorly the Browns have played, that’s not too shabby.

    The key will be the offense turning itself around, as you said. DA, Braylon and Kellen have got to get their rhythm back that they had last year. I started to see it at the end of the Cincinnati game, so hopefully it was not just a mirage.

    The defense is actually playing a little bit better and coming up with more big plays and turnovers. Getting Joshua Cribbs back to full strength so he can provide a special teams spark will also help.

    This has been a crazy year in the NFL already, so the Browns coming back and fighting for the AFC North title is absolutely not outside the realm of possibility.

  • Much Needed Reality Check

    Ah, and the hopes of staying alive are crushed by yet another Hall of Fame performance by Big Ben Roethlisberger, aka “The Mayor of Cleveland” considering how he truly owns your team. Running backs? Who needs running backs when you have the Man back there to fire 20-yard in-stride strikes while swatting off 300-lb. linemen like flies?

    Although… you might want to re-think your opinion of Moore. Steelers fans knew what a stud we were getting from Minnesota, as he was one of Tomlin’s favorite guys. Now the rest of you get to see. Yee ha!

    Wow, can only imagine what kind of tantrum that Rudy dude (is that his name? can’t remember) was throwing at the screen after the Steelers locked up that big win in Jacksonville. That prediction of his is looking fainter, than well… Cleveland, Cincinnati and Baltimore’s division title hopes.

    Another week, another Steeler win… boo yah!