The Browns Still a Year or Two Away from Playoff Contention
Oh, the poor city of Cleveland. The city has gone through more heartbreaking losses than perhaps any other sports city in America.
Among the most heartbreaking losses include: “the Drive," “the Fumble,” and most recently “the Decision," with Lebron James’ decision to leave his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers team to form a "dream team" with the Miami Heat.
The Browns last won the NFL Championship in 1964 and they still haven't won a Super Bowl.
The Browns struggled early last, season but finished with four straight wins to move to 5-11, which likely saved head coach Eric Mangini his job.
The Browns offseason was the most interesting as they hired a new team president, Mike Holmgrem, who is a former Super Bowl winning coach and promises to restore the franchise to winning ways.
The Browns also gave up on former first round draft pick Brady Quinn and their former starter Derek Anderson. Quinn was traded to Denver and Anderson went to the Cardinals.
Jake Delhomme, whose career has been declining, was released by the Carolina Panthers and joined Cleveland shortly after. It appears he will be the starter this coming season.
Delhomme has put up decent career numbers with an 82.1 rating, and who can forget the year in which he led the Panthers to their first Super Bowl and fell just shy of winning it?
Of course, in the NFL it’s “what have you done for me lately?” and Delhomme is coming off a season in which he threw 18 interceptions while missing part of the year. He has also had his injury problems. After all, he is aging and if he doesn’t see resurgence in his career, the Browns season will suffer tremendously.
The rest of the offence features Donte Stallworth, who has been very disappointing since joining the Browns. Last season, he only caught 17 passes for a total of 170 yards. He will have to show this season that he can still be a force in the league.
A very good pickup on offence is tight end Benjamin Watson. He can help the Browns passing game and may have to bail out Delhomme down the middle of the field.
The draft saw Cleveland fill their voids. Picking up Joe Haden at cornerback was a good choice and he can immediately help the Browns defence. Also the Browns were fortunate to be able to pick up quarterback Colt McCoy in the third round. McCoy was seen as a second round, or possibly a first round pick, and it was a bargain for Cleveland to draft a potential franchise quarterback in the third round.
Overall on offence, the Browns are not exactly a powerhouse. Whoever their quarterback is this season, they will have trouble with the lack of weapons the offence will provide. The offensive line may be their best hope of improving. They will also probably have to rely on their running game, which ranked eighth last season. Jerome Harrison and Montario Hardesty may be a good duo in the backfield.
On defence, the Browns were among the league’s worst last year, but they have the potential to significantly improve. They had 40 sacks last season, 8th in the league, and their linebacking corps is solid with Scott Fujita leading the way.
The special teams unit will provide the most thrills as Joshua Cribbs is the best return man in the league and holds the NFL record with eight kickoffs returned for a touchdown.
Phil Dawson is one of the most reliable kickers in the league and hit 89.5% of his field goals last year. Dave Zastudil is also a fine punter. As a unit, the Browns special teams will be key in keeping them in the games.
The bottom line is, it’s a league for quarterbacks and the Browns have one of the worst quarterback situations in the league. In a tough AFC North division, the Browns will likely finish fourth again, but it may not be bad news as they will have a chance to further improve their offence in next year’s draft.
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