Now that the Cleveland Browns season is over, football fans on the North Coast have to find something else to worry about. Since the team dealt its first round draft pick in 2008 to obtain Brady Quinn, the usual talk about whom the brown and orange should draft is on the back burner. This off-season, the teeth gnashing has centered on next season’s schedule, and the difficulty of it. However, is it as tough as it looks?
Much debate has centered on the fact that the Browns are matched up against the AFC South and NFC East in 2008, two divisions where every team finished with an above .500 record. Each division is the host of three teams that reached the playoffs this season. Since it has been suggested that Cleveland’s 10-6 mark is the result of an easier type schedule in ’07, could the success of these divisions be attributed to the same thing?
First, let’s look at the AFC South. They matched up against the AFC West and the NFC South as per the NFL rotating schedule guidelines. Out of those two divisions, the only teams that finished over .500 were the two division winners, the Chargers and the Buccaneers. The rest of the teams were mediocre at best. The AFC West contained the disappointing Broncos and the mediocre Chiefs and Raiders. The NFC South has the horrible, Michael Vick-less Falcons, the two more teams who didn’t play up to expectations, the Panthers and Saints.
As for the NFC East, their AFC divisional foes came from the Eastern Division, which had the unbeaten Patriots, the up and coming Bills, and two of the worst teams in football in the Dolphins and Jets. They also took on the NFC North, which featured the Packers, and the inconsistent (or disappointing, depending on your point of view) Vikings, Bears, and Lions. Therefore, they played six beatable teams from these two divisions.
Some would say the reasons the bad teams had poor records was because they played good teams. However, the fact that each of these divisions placed three teams in the playoffs is due in part to playing a rather soft schedule. The Browns were 10-6 this year because they played against the AFC East, picking up three wins. I’m just saying perhaps some of those teams aren’t above the break-even mark if they played a division with better teams than the AFC West.
If Browns’ fans want to worry about something, consider the team is offering Coach Romeo Crennel a two-year contract extension. This was the first winning season for the head coach, and I would like to see a second before offering Crennel additional years. Why the rush? He has two more years on his current deal, anyway. There is nothing wrong with getting an extra year’s book on a coach before signing him up for more seasons. What would your thoughts be next year if the Cleveland Browns go 8-8 or 7-9? GM Phil Savage should exercise patience.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 
actually i like the browns 2008 schedule. for one thing, there are no west coast road trips whatsoever as all of their games will all be exclusively played in the eastern time zone. i don’t care what anybody says, going out west and changing time zones takes its toll and it shows in the browns record as being horrible out west throughout their history. honestly, i like their chances as they will almost certainly learn from their experience this year how important it is to win every game. as a result, i can actually see them with either an 11-5 or a 12-4 record in 2008. we can only hope.