More reasonable^^ More likely: Pittsburgh 11-5 (2nd Seed) Cleveland 10-6 (WC) Baltimore 7-9 Cincinnati 4-12
Not trying to rub anything in and the Browns will definitely improve but if you listened to Delanie Walker's comments after the game it supports what I was saying about how other teams are going to approach the Browns this year. Teams are fired up to play the team the media has hyped all off-season. It's why you can't just look at last year's win total and project improvement. You gotta win those games again.
There were still positives to take away from the game Pass rush was there. Mayfield for most of the game looked calm and collected even when the offensive line wasn’t performing. He lost it a bit at the end when he was trying to force some plays...but really I thought only one of his picks was a really bad throw. Chubb is a legit NFL back. The penalties hurt more than anything else. It sucks when you live through an off-season of intense hype and that’s your payoff. But it’s a long season and I think the Browns rebound well from this one.
So 2 Sundays in the books, big game tonight. How many thought we'd see Pittsburgh at 0 and 2 ? Cinci, well yeah. Tonight we either accept the need to work hard for every win, or we will be talking about a head coach who many thought wasn't ready to corale the talent or tame the personalities, or was simply not ready to be "the man". Is he?
How bout now? Question of the hour is, Do they have Ben's replacement on the roster currently? I guess we will find out rather quickly whether Mason Rudolph deserved to be a first rounder, like some national pundits proclaimed. Any quality starter can come from any round, obviously, but a guy that "slips" to the 3rd round usually makes it there for a reason.. I.E. Wilson's height... Mason doesn't have any of those oddities, he is simply a QB that didn't quite cut it with the scouts coming out of college. We shall see though.. maybe the Steelers faithful will be ready to move on from Ben very soon.
I thought, all things considered, Rudolph acquitted himself very well yesterday. He very well could be Ben's heir apparent.
That's just it.. They were heading towards 0-2 before Ben's elbow let go. That is the kiss of death in the NFL, about an 11% chance of making the playoffs if you start out 0-2. If Rudolph can resurrect their chances, then Pittsburgh may have had a blessing in disguise with this injury.
We also have a chance to start 0-2. (Not that I think we will.) Add to that, our next 5 opponents (LAR, BAL, S.F., SEA {bye} and N.E.) have yet to lose a game.
It's been in the back of my mind for about 5 days... It didn't hit me right away, but I started looking at the schedule and...ouch... This becomes a must win tonight to save this coaching staff's ass... not to mention the Browns 2019 season. If they can't beat the Jets with in the personnel situation they are in... we are in for a very long season. I am with you Lym, this Jets team is just too dilapidated. It's the perfect remedy to get the team feeling better about itself. I am hard pressed to think they could lose this game tonight.