The 2010 season for the Cleveland Browns has started much like last year. The team has the same record as last year, 1-5. So, the question is this: Has this football team improved from last year?
The easy answer is yes. Last season, the Browns were getting hammered by their opponents, dropping games by scores of 34-20, 27-6, 34-3 in the first three games, with defeats of 31-3 and 30-6 to come.
This year, the Browns lost their opener to Tampa by a 17-14 score, and lost the next week to Kansas City, 16-14. The total margin of Cleveland’s five losses this season has been 40 points, compared to over 80 points a year ago.
So, they have moved from being non-competitive to being in every football game. In fact, the Browns led each of the first four contests in the fourth quarter.
Still, as Bill Parcells always says, you are what your record says you are, and the Browns are 1-5, the same as last season. So, in terms of the ultimate measurement of success in sports, the win-loss record, Eric Mangini’s squad has not improved.
What makes it worse for the organization is the fact that several of the teams who picked ahead of the Browns in last year’s draft, thus having worse records, have shown improvement in the win-loss department.
St. Louis, with rookie QB Sam Bradford at the helm, has already tripled their win total from last year and sit with a 3-3 record. Tampa Bay had the third overall pick this spring, and they are 3-2, including a win over the Browns.
Washington is 3-3. Kansas City is 3-2, with one of the wins coming here in the Browns’ home opener, and Seattle, with new coach Pete Carroll is at 3-3.
The only teams drafting that high who haven’t picked up the pace in terms of wins are Cleveland and the Detroit Lions, who have been without QB Matthew Stafford for several weeks.
The expectations on Mangini and his staff have increased because of the success of these teams.
Add in Arizona, who made the playoffs last year, but lost Kurt Warner to retirement and are now starting a undrafted rookie free agent in Max Hall at quarterback, and they’ve won three games.
Browns’ fans are wondering why the same can’t be true here.
In the case of the Buccaneers and Chiefs, they benefited from their early season wins over the Browns. They achieved early success this season, and that definitely helps going forward. Losing those games for the Browns may have created a “here we go again” mentality, particularly after those losses came as a result of critical mistakes by the offense.
In defense of the Browns, they are arguably in the toughest division in the NFL. Both the Ravens and Steelers are on everyone’s list of the league’s best five teams, and Cleveland gets to play them twice per season. None of the teams mentioned who have shown improvement is in a division like the AFC North. It’s easier to get better in a mediocre division.
Still, that doesn’t make the fans more patient. They’ve been watching the same movie year in and year out since 1999. As one of my friends once said, “I don’t want excuses, I want results”. He speaks for all Browns’ supporters.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 