I don't get this comment at all, they didn't have a better defense to start so not sure how they can still be better after losing their defensive leader. Sure their D-line is great and was great in the Super Bowl, but NE had the 4th best defense last year and gave up less yards, points, and had more Pro-Bowlers- if you asked a panel of NFL experts if they could have NE Defense coached by Belichick and Giants Defense, I think you would see close to a 10-0 sweep
I don't get this comment at all, they didn't have a better defense to start so not sure how they can still be better after losing their defensive leader. Sure their D-line is great and was great in the Super Bowl, but NE had the 4th best defense last year and gave up less yards, points, and had more Pro-Bowlers- if you asked a panel of NFL experts if they could have NE Defense coached by Belichick and Giants Defense, I think you would see close to a 10-0 sweep
Eh regular season won't be what it was last season- road games in Indy, Seattle, and SD, 3 of the toughest places to play. And divisional games could always be close, no matter the talent difference- I'm not expecting a regular season like last year, but should at least get homefield in the playoffs.
They had draft busts years ago. A new coaching staff and front office has changed all of that. Maybe you haven't followed the NFL since 2002, I don't know. And I believe they are 30 to 1 to win the superbowl. That is fairly respectable. I'll say one thing for sure, their offense will be in the top 5 in the league.
I agree with some things you are both saying- Cleveland has made huge strides and their offseason pickups for the most part were huge- steinbach with joe thomas means a great o-line, and they obviously got better on the d-line, but their defense still needs some work. They have also drafted much better as of late, with Braylon, K2, and Joe Thomas huge picks.
That being said, Stallworth has always been somewhat disappointment, and he wasn't a big loss for the Pats nor a huge gain for the Browns.. he is a decent 2 or 3 wide receiver, a role player. But giving Derek Anderson another weapon never hurts, it just all comes down to whether he will have anywhere near the Pro-Bowl year he had last season.. I saw Derek Anderson at Oregon St, and I never saw close to what I saw last season, so we will see if he can keep it up.
DA is not a great QB, he is a good QB that is made to look great from all the talent around him. Donte will be getting a lot of single coverage, the Browns need him to take advantage of this. If he does than it worked out, if he doesn't than he's a bust. I'm a firm believer in not getting too worked up about these things. None of us know what will happen. Hell, the Browns and Pats could go 4-12 and the Dolphins could win the super bowl for all we know. I just get annoyed with people that make obviously horrible observations like MikeB. At least know football if your going to argue about it.
Samhain, you think the Pats will be like the Rams a few years back in terms of defense and needing to outscore everyone? They were like 4th in the NFL in points allowed last year despite the fact their D gaveup its fair share of garbage time points in big blowouts and they played every top offense in the league (Indy, Cle, Cin, Dal, SD, Pitt.) I mean, thinking the Pats D won't be top 10 in the NFL in points allowed is a pretty out there opinion. I'd love to bet it if I knew you...Yeah, Bill Belichick defenses always struggle...
RealEstatePro, if I knew you I'd let you pick ANY 1 team in the AFC and I'd take the Pats and we could see who goes further, hopefully you would take the Browns. That would be nice.....I hate to start the whole Pats vs the world thing but I think this applies for the Colts too. People say these teams are going to falloff EVERY year, EVERY year you guys do this and every year those two teams are in the hunt in the AFC and winning 12+ games....Yeah they got some holes on D but its still a D that has Seymour, Warren, Wilfork, Harrison, Thomas, Vrabel with young guns like Meriweather, Mayo, Wheatley coming up and adding solid vets like Bryant/Hobson.
We will see I guess.....
RealEstatePro, if I knew you I'd let you pick ANY 1 team in the AFC and I'd take the Pats and we could see who goes further, hopefully you would take the Browns. That would be nice.....I hate to start the whole Pats vs the world thing but I think this applies for the Colts too. People say these teams are going to falloff EVERY year, EVERY year you guys do this and every year those two teams are in the hunt in the AFC and winning 12+ games....Yeah they got some holes on D but its still a D that has Seymour, Warren, Wilfork, Harrison, Thomas, Vrabel with young guns like Meriweather, Mayo, Wheatley coming up and adding solid vets like Bryant/Hobson.
We will see I guess.....
You bring up Indy, I truely believe they will fail to reach 10 wins this year. They are another story all together. As for your Pats, they will be a good team once again, they just will not make it far into the playoffs. I must admit that I have not looked at their schedule so it may look like an easy one as of now. But I'd take the Browns to go further than New England in a heartbeat. And the Browns have a tough ass schedule this year. They play Indy, the Giants, Redskins, Dallas, Jacksonville, the Titans (that is still up in the air if it will be tough or not). Not to mention that we have to play the our usual Steeler games. Those teams had a combined 76-33 record last year. And the Eagles are supposed to be a lot tougher this year and they play them as well. So with those tests in the regular season, I have no doubt that they will be ready for any competition come playoff time.
OK, I just looked at the Pats schedule. I guess they have some friends in the scheduling department. Besides the Chargers, Colts, Steelers and Seahawks I they don't play anybody. I'll still give them 11-5 maybe 12-4. If they get a bye in the first round they may make it to the championship game. But I even doubt that. I wish the Browns had that schedule. They'd be a 13-3 team.
Friends in the scheduling department? NFL schedule is slotted years in advance, stars just aligned for them a little bit this year...It is based on nothing other than how it is slotted and how you finished the previous year.
Obviously being a Pats fan I'd LIKE to see Indy fall off, believe me....However, I won't pick that team nor NE to falloff unless they have TERRIBLE offseasons or get really old. Its just something I'd have to see to believe, thats how solid they have both been for years...But like you said, they are another story for another time...Indy last year basically had no harrison, no freeney 1/2 the year and TGlenn retired and they still won 13 games pretty easily (dropped week 17 willingly vs Ten) Only 3 losses last year were vs SD 2x and NE, pretty strong. Just a real solid team year in and year out....
As far as the Pats schedule, they played every top team in the NFL last regular season besides Green Bay. @Indy, @Dallas, Pitt, @NYG, SD and went 16-0. So now that their schedule looks significantly easier they are going to drop 4-5 games? Sounds like crazy talk to me, but anything can happen...The Browns are a solid young team but they snuck up on people last year much like Cincy in '05, I wouldn't be surprised to see them fall back to the 8-8, 7-9 pack at all with a tougher schedule..
Obviously being a Pats fan I'd LIKE to see Indy fall off, believe me....However, I won't pick that team nor NE to falloff unless they have TERRIBLE offseasons or get really old. Its just something I'd have to see to believe, thats how solid they have both been for years...But like you said, they are another story for another time...Indy last year basically had no harrison, no freeney 1/2 the year and TGlenn retired and they still won 13 games pretty easily (dropped week 17 willingly vs Ten) Only 3 losses last year were vs SD 2x and NE, pretty strong. Just a real solid team year in and year out....
As far as the Pats schedule, they played every top team in the NFL last regular season besides Green Bay. @Indy, @Dallas, Pitt, @NYG, SD and went 16-0. So now that their schedule looks significantly easier they are going to drop 4-5 games? Sounds like crazy talk to me, but anything can happen...The Browns are a solid young team but they snuck up on people last year much like Cincy in '05, I wouldn't be surprised to see them fall back to the 8-8, 7-9 pack at all with a tougher schedule..
Ha yeah, I knew that, just felt like explaining it because surprisingly many NFL fans don't know that. One of the weirdest things is how people don't know how the NFL schedule is made, I know raider fans who say the schedule is made to screw them every year, its like "the schedule is slotted and made years in advance!"
But no, I did not think you were being literal.
Just curious, if you see NE on the comedown, Indy on the comedown and I'm guessing you see Pitt on the comedown if you've got Cle winning that divison, who else do you see being top-tier in the AFC. NE, Pitt and Indy have ruled the AFC for most of the decade...
But no, I did not think you were being literal.
Just curious, if you see NE on the comedown, Indy on the comedown and I'm guessing you see Pitt on the comedown if you've got Cle winning that divison, who else do you see being top-tier in the AFC. NE, Pitt and Indy have ruled the AFC for most of the decade...
Okay.. O-Line is the only position on the football field besides maybe kicker where the Browns have the edge over the Pats... and that is being generous, because despite a terrible SB, the Pats had the best O-line during the regular season last season. QB? Don't have to think about that one. RB? Over the hill Jamal vs fresh Maroney who stormed through the playoffs. WR? Yeah Braylon is nasty, but he doesn't touch what Moss and Welker did last season. And that is offense, which is the huge strength for the Browns.. let us not talk about their defense, worst in the league versus Pats top 5 D.. if you think Rodgers is going to change all that, you are mistaken.. their LB core is not good.
If you would take the browns to go further than the Pats in a heartbeat, then I would love to exchange e-mails, post the bet on here, and I will give you odds. Let me know.
May have to take you up on that. Just to make it clear I'm not a big time bettor. I have a GF and baby that only allow this to be a fun passtime. But I'm willing to go in it for a little.
As for comparison of teams. I'll give you Brady over DA anyday. The O-line, I have to give to the Browns. They'll only be better this year, Joe Thomas was a rookie playing the most improtant part of the line.
WR's, Braylon Edwards will show you this year what he is capable of doing. I'll take him over Moss. We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. As for RB, Jamel Lewis showed up in the best shape of his career. One quick thing, why is Lewis over the hill and fails compared to a younger RB but the same principle does not apply to Edwards/Moss? I'm interested to hear what you have to say about this. TE, hands down Cleveland. Winslow is a beast that creates mismatches for the secondary.
Defense. The Browns secondary got burnt more times than I can count last year. They had two rookie CB's starting for part of the year. They are now second year players and will show that they can shutdown the best in the game.
All this said feel free to get my email from a mod and we can see if we can work something out.
Was not trying to bash the Browns, hope they win their division....you were just making it sound like it was the Browns choice if Lynch could play for them or not, when it was in fact the opposite...
When asked what drove the free agent to the Patriots, Dunn said, “It came down to a very simple desire of winning another championship.”
I don't know if the Browns and Lynch were ever in contact with each other. I just know that they are in need of DB's and he was available and we did not get him. I never even heard that we were looking at him, that was more my point. If they wanted him it would have leaked out into the local or national press. Someone sees potential in the Browns considering the amount of free agents they picked up over the past few years. These players had options and they chose Cleveland. I'm trying not to homer it up here but basically we have people from Boston fighting with people (or person) from Cleveland about the Browns and Pats. I'm not one to say that a local team will be good unless I actually think they'll be good. Before last year I knew they would have a break out year, and they did. Once they fixed up that D-line I knew that a Superbowl was a realistic chance. Finally. I haven't missed a Browns game since '86 so I'm getting overly excited about having something to be happy about.
Hey that's fine. The Browns very well might surprise people this year, I mean look at what the Giants did last year...I just think the Patriots will attract players like Lynch and Seau, players at the end of their career who see the chance to win it all. Hindsight is always 20/20 but right now Lynch made a very good choice, Belichick and Capers will get the very most out of him....
