Looking Forward to the 2019 AFC North

LOL I was typing this up as you posted TD...

Actually SAS Moving to Baltimore Ranks #1 by a HUGE margin. All one needs to do is look at NE success under Belichick...

If they don't move then Holmgren and Jackson likely never happen.

The heartache of "the Drive" and "the Fumble" no longer haunt the Browns.

 

It's still heartbreaking... I hate thinking about what "could've been", but all ya gotta do is look at that coaching staff we had in place before Art nuked everything and skipped town. The Browns were gonna win. There's no doubt about that. I doubt Testaverde could have won it all, so they were still missing that key piece, but they were on their way and ya gotta believe Belichick would have found the guy....

No doubt NFL history would have been dramatically altered if the Browns had never moved....

 

As a minimum, the NFL would have had a different champion in 2001 and 2013.

 

What about 2003, 2004 and 2016?

 

That was the biggest mistake that the Browns made was firing Belichik. Even if the team still became the Ravens. Belichik is by far the best coach ever. I would have loved to see what he could have done with the Steelers. We’d be measuring rings for our toes now.

 

What about them? The Ravens won the NFL Championship in 2001 (for the 2000 season) and in 2013 (for the 2012 season).

 

I thought you were talking about the Patriots.
True. If Belichik never went to the Patriots? What would have been?

 

So I get it's an unpopular opinion... but the Browns needed to move.

Put down the rocks, torches, and pitchforks for a second... hear me out.

Baltimore lost their team due to a sh*tty owner/family (the Irsays). Did the same thing Modell did, packed up and left overnight and left a city and fanbase wrecked. It took the city of Baltimore 12 years to get a new franchise (and it was indeed a brand new franchise). When Modell pulled that crap, the city of Cleveland took three years *and* got to keep the team history.

The Browns got that concession within four months of announcing the move.

Fast forward to 1999 when the NFL actively sought to undermine the return of Cleveland in every way possible. That has continued throughout the years, most notably through its enforcement arm - NFL Referees. Nevertheless, the team (and the fans) persisted.

Despite everything that had happened, and how hamstrung the NFL set them up, the Browns made the playoffs a mere three seasons after coming back and starting at literal zero. Since then, it's been a series of failures - almost a comedy of errors - that has held the team back year after year. The death of Al Lerner and the subsequent power vaccum was the first stumble - and honestly belongs in the Top 5 "worsts". Randy Lerner was an idiot and disengaged, but he did what was projected as the "right" thing and spent the money. It was the hires that impeded success - and none of them were worse than Mike Holmgren.

The Move set the team back three years... seven if we're counting time until reaching the playoffs. The hiring of Mike Holmgren and his subsequent decisions set the team back a decade. Romeo Crennel won 10 games. Eric Mangini (who still oddly enough seems to have a solid following of Browns fans) was fired by Holmgren after only two seasons. Pat Shurmur - his hand-picked choice - was fired after only two seasons. The entire time, he worked 20 hour weeks, was disinterested in the success of the team, and cashed a $50 million contract.

I will hear arguments that Randy Lerner deserves the top spot, but Holmgren at least deserves Top 2 billing.

 

What, you didn't like the way Holmgren hired all his old friends and ran the team further into the abyss? Smh...

He was awful, but I think if you were old enough to experience the pain of "The Drive" and "The Fumble" when it happened, you'd probably rank them higher. I almost put "Red Right 88" on my list. In fact, I'll amend the easy way and consider that a tie for #5 with the younger Lerner. When Sipe's pass was intercepted, that was the first time football truly made me cry.

Holmgren is as good of a call as any though...He absolutely set the franchise back.

He did see something in Colt McCoy, and that wasn't a terrible choice, but the only thing I liked about Mike Holmgren is the fact that he's a motorcycle guy. Not nearly enough reason to want him running my football team..

 

This could almost be a "Butterfly Affect" youtube video.

I can see it now:

Narrator: "If Art Model wasn't a shitty businessman, then Tom Brady and Bill Bellicheck would not be the greatest Coach/QB duo in NFL history"

 

Agree to disagree.

In 94 the Browns were 11-5 and made the playoffs. In 95 they were early favorites to make the super bowl.

They didn't need to move what they needed and what Modell wanted was a new stadium. The people of Cleveland passed a "sin" tax to help fund the new stadium, prior to Modell announcing the move, what chapped Modell's ass was that he wasn't going to get the sweet revenue deal with the new stadium as he had with the old stadium. So he announced the move in the middle of the season got the team to quit on him and his coaches so he could justify the move.

I agree with your assessment of how things shaped up post 99, without the move all that is essentially a mute point.



Water under the Bridge.

On to the future.

It's a new era in Cleveland.

 

That plus Art was super pissed that the city didn't fix the Browns' stadium issues first. The "Gateway project" that built new stadiums for both the Indians and Cavs, before addressing the Browns was a major tipping point.

 

The only reason that I really agree with this statement is the fact that if the city hadn't addressed the Indians situation when they did, we would have lost them...

So in my twisted way of thinking its, lose the Browns for 3 years, or lose the Tribe forever...

It's easy for me to say now, but I was one pissed off NFL fan when all that shit went down...

The silver lining was, they didn't let Art take the Colors or records or trophies or anything, and we got the Browns back after 3 long years with a much needed shiny new stadium....

 

And got rid of a terrible, terrible owner.

 

Is history about to repeat itself in Cincy?



Jus sayin....It has similar feel doesn't it?

 

Truth...Though most would undoubtedly say, we did not upgrade.

 

Then "most" would be dumber than a fence post.

Unless, of course, they couldn't tell the difference between Al Learner and his inept son, Randy.

 

Nobody was talking about Randy...My implication was that, outside of Cleveland, "most" wouldn't consider Al an upgrade to Art.

In fact, I doubt most casual fans even know who Al Lerner is.....

 

Browns, Colts carrying over most cap space from 2018 to 2019
Posted by Josh Alper on January 31, 2019, 2:30 PM EST

Getty Images

The Browns and Colts are heading into free agency among the teams with the most cap space available and carrying over unused space from the 2018 season is part of the reason they are in that position.

The NFLPA released the amount of unused cap space that each team is carrying over from last season to the 2019 campaign and the Browns are at the top of the list at $56.5 million. It’s the second straight year that the Browns have found themselves at the top of the list.

The Colts are next up with $49.1 million and the 49ers will be carrying over $35 million into the new league year. The Rams are at the other end of the spectrum with $466,000 and spending close to the cap has worked out pretty well for them this season.

NFL teams carried over $339.9 million from 2017 to 2018. This year’s total is down slightly to $339.4 million.

 

^^^^That should be scary to a lot of teams in this league. Especially AFC teams....

I think Luck, Mayfield and Mahomes are gonna control this conference for a while now, and Lamar Jackson is the wildcard....

Give Cleveland and Indy the cap advantage though, and if they play their cards right, that could set them apart...