There isn’t much more that could have gone wrong for the Cleveland Browns last Sunday against the New York Jets in the 31-10 loss in the season opener.
Five turnovers, 12 penalties, a defense that couldn’t stop the run or put pressure on Ryan Fitzpatrick, and an offensive line that struggled all day were the main culprits in a resounding defeat.
However, the beatdown doesn’t relegate the team to a 2-14 or 3-13 season.
Last year, four teams were thumped on the opening weekend for pro football.
Green Bay was hammered by Seattle 36-16, yet finished the year at 12-4.
New England was beaten by Miami 33-20, yet ended the season at 12-4 and hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.
The Rams lost to Minnesota 34-6, but they wound up at 6-10 at season’s end, and the Giants were beaten by the Lions, 35-14 and also finished 2014 at 6-10.
To be sure, the Browns are probably closer the last season’s Rams or Giants than they are to the Packers or Patriots, but it serves to remind us that it is just one game, and this Sunday’s contest vs. Tennessee is a chance for redemption.
The ultimate example that you cannot examine an entire season based on the first game of the year comes from 1989 and our rivals to the east, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
As you may remember, the Steelers opened the campaign at home against the Browns in Bud Carson’s first game as a head coach and received a 51-0 shellacking.
Pittsburgh turned the ball over eight times and had just 53 total yards of offense in the blowout. By the way, that Pittsburgh team featured noted Johnny Manziel fan Merril Hoge.
The next week, the Steelers were hammered once again, this time on the road in Cincinnati, 41-10. This time, they didn’t turn the ball over at all, but their defense was gouged by 520 total yards by the Bengals.
Did that Pittsburgh team finish with the overall number one pick in the draft?
No, they righted their season, won the last four games of the year, and made the playoffs with a 9-7 record.
To be fair, the Steelers were guided by a Hall of Fame coach in Chuck Noll, who by that time had won four Super Bowls, but it shows what can happen by judging a team on such a small sample size.
We don’t know what will happen the rest of the year for the Cleveland Browns, and we agree that if the defense doesn’t play significantly better than they did last weekend, it could be a long, long season.
The Browns may have played their worst game of the season in week one. We understand that right now, we don’t have any other performances to compare it to, and with all of the hype that goes into the opener, the disappointment of a horrible game hits fans hard.
On the other hand, the Browns could come out and confuse rookie QB Marcus Mariota like Ohio State did in the national championship game, and have success running the ball that they need. Those things would likely add up to a victory and a 1-1 record to start the year.
We would be more concerned if the Browns played well and still had their heads handed to them. They played horrible and lost.
That could have happened in week seven, and it wouldn’t have been a huge deal.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 