BLOOMINGBURG, NY – There are other things I’d rather be talking about today but there’s something bugging the sh!t out of me that has come to a head very recently, the result of watching NFL coverage. 
The Cleveland Browns are being talked about ad nauseam. Don’t believe the hype machine with this team. I’m here to tell you why.
First and foremost, it’s always a lot easier sneaking up on opponents when a team is exceeding expectations like the Browns did last year when they finished 7-8-1. Cleveland is now a sexy pick to take the next step and outperform last year’s output but the NFL is ready for them and won’t be surprised. Vegas has set 9 as the over/under win total. You’d be smart to bet the under for the following reasons:
The offense. Sure. Baker Mayfield showed tremendous poise as a rookie last year when he set the rookie quarterback record for touchdown passes. I’m not expecting him to regress much if at all. What I’m banking on is the league to go to school on him, which will make for a sophomore season full of peaks and valleys requiring, Mayfield to make some adjustments in his game.
Head Coach Freddie Kitchens guided this team as offensive coordinator last year and did well to help protect the franchise quarterback in the second half of last year as Mayfield reaped the rewards of remaining clean and upright which helps any QB succeed. There’s a new toy in Believeland in the mercurial WR Odell Beckham and RB Kareem Hunt, once the latter comes back to join the team after his eight-game suspension. While there is something to be said about continuity within an organization, there will be some growing pains before the new pieces mesh. The timing between Mayfield and Beckham will need some time to click early in the season, just like incorporating a stale Hunt into the game plan can present a problem in the second half of the year. There are a lot of mouths to feed in this offense and one has to wonder what happens to the morale of a young team once Beckham starts barking about not getting the ball enough. If you’re a betting man I’m predicting the under as a good bet for this team’s first four games as the result of waiting for things to shake out on offense.
The unknown. You’ve got a rookie head coach coming into an NFL franchise starving for it’s first winning season in forever. Based upon what Kitchen’s cooked up last year (see what I did there?) to make the offense run effectively, he set the bar high – as all the expectations are pouring in from all media sources to win the weakening AFC North. Some pundits have the Brownies winning a playoff game. Never a fan of looking at a schedule and predicting wins and losses in the week-to-week league that the NFL is – since it’s more a matter of when you play a team rather than who you play. What I’m getting at today is that the Browns are on the rise from a talent standpoint but it takes a while for a moribund franchise to learn how to win again and you should be wary of wagering on the Dawg Pound this year when so much is expected.
Speaking of dawgs, come back tomorrow with one having plenty of bite, Barkin’ Ben Whitney.
