Browns fans’ world is finally happy place
Anew circus is coming to town in Cleveland, where for the past two decades a clown show has performed on the shores of Lake Erie.
No more. The new carnival atmosphere in Berea, where the Browns open camp on Thursday, is not the annual dysfunctional fun and games. Instead, fans are looking forward to having fun at games.
What has changed? Almost everything. A new culture exists, one that sees possibility instead of pratfalls. The Factory of Sadness that produced its highest output when Cleveland finished 0-16 two years ago has been flipped into an Office of Optimism. Those jerseys with the names of two dozen former Browns quarterbacks taped to the back? Replaced by one name: Mayfield.
The sky’s the limit, no longer clouded with mayflies.
Not everything is perfect. Ownership remains the same, which raises a red flag based on past hires. Is first-year coach Freddie Kitchens really the answer to improve on last season’s 7-8-1 record? Still, the current front office, led by John Dorsey, has brought in talent, including drafting
Baker Mayfield and trading for Odell Beckham Jr. Somewhat amazingly, the Brownies are darlings of the national media.
“It is easily the Browns’ rosiest outlook going into any season since the franchise was restored to existence (in 1999),” wrote Neil Paine of fivethirtyeight.com.
Vegas also appears to like the new Browns. More than one sports book lists Cleveland at 6 to 1 to make the Super Bowl and 16 to 1 to win it.
Not to rain on this parade, but everyone needs to slow down. Two sticking points for me: First, Kitchens. Maybe he works out. Maybe not. He seems legitimate, but no one can be sure. That unknown alone is reason to hold off on turning Cleveland into the next New England. It’s good to dream, as long as you return to reality. Better to focus on baby steps than one giant leap for Brownskind.
There also is the issue of a Steven Wilks replacing Gregg Williams as defensive coordinator. Wilks knows his stuff, but coaching transitions take time.
Ah, but who wants to read about such negativity? Certainly not Browns fans. Pessimism has pulsed through their veins too long for them not want a transfusion of hope.
And from whence dost such hope originate? From Mayfield, who finally gives Cleveland the legitimate big-time quarterback the franchise has lacked for nearly a generation.
Fivethirtyeight, which crunches numbers as well as anyone, calculates that Mayfield’s preseason QB rating will be the second highest of any Browns opening-day starter since 1999. Of course, that is like saying dining on steak beats eating road-kill possum. The highest rating? Jeff Garcia in 2004. Pretty low bar there.
Put it this way, Mayfield better be good again, because the team’s success rides on his full-throttle talent mixing with his ability to motivate teammates to believe in a previously forlorn franchise. It all needs to manifest on the field, as it did last season.
If Baker avoids a sophomore slump — and he has more weapons this season to avoid such a letdown — I see big things for the Browns. Not Super Bowl things, but the playoffs are a real possibility.
The schedule sets up favorably. Buffalo and Miami at home and Arizona on the road should all be wins. A split with Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Cincinnati, and the Browns only need three more wins — Jets, Seahawks and 49ers? — to earn their first winning season since 2007. It won’t get them a ring, but it sure beats being the laughingstock threering circus.