Les Levine on Season Tickets
April 1, 2008Well played sir…
April 2, 2008Not more than a few days ago, we touched on the possibility that Phil Savage would vote for the NFL to re-seed their playoff format – citing that the AFC North was statistically the toughest division last season, and that the Browns themselves got a raw deal despite a 10-win season.
Well, it appears that things have changed a bit, as Tony Grossi reports that Phil and Company will be voting against the re-seeding. While I don’t think Cleveland’s vote is of the “Super Delegate” type, this mention caught me by surprise:
There’s a strong feeling the Browns ultimately could be hurt by the proposed change because the winner of the AFC North this year could have a lesser record than a wildcard team and thus lose the home playoff game now guaranteed in the present format.
This could only mean one of two things: Either one, the other divisions are seen to have gotten significantly better, or two, the North has actually gotten worse than it was last season.
While the schedule could be seen as significantly more difficult than last season, as we’ll face teams like the Indianapolis Colts and the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants, could you argue that any team – other than Cleveland – actually improved this off-season? The rough winter/spring of the Pittsburgh Steelers has been well-documented. The Cincinnati Bengals have had several trades get botched right before signing, and have spent an inordinate amount of time defending rumored locker room fights. The Baltimore Ravens have… Have they done anything?
A quick look at transactions, and the highlight just may be taking Todd Heap off of the IR. They designated Terrell Suggs as their ‘Franchise Player,’ and signed Brendon Ayanbadejo, but unless he’ll be throwing passes this year, I refuse to see this as an improvement. With all of this said, 10 wins could take the division this coming season, and in that case, could wind up being below the possible wildcard teams – netting Savage’s decision intelligent.
I may be way off here, simply speaking from a Clevelander’s perspective. If this is the case, please feel free to disagree in the comments. Do you feel that this could be a tough season, but one that can be crown the AFC North Champion despite 10 wins? It’s obvious that we improved, but am I missing something that the others did? Is it blatantly obvious that I can’t wait for the Browns to start back up despite the Indians only one-game in to their season? Let’s hear it!
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17 Comments
Well, 10 wins was good enough for Pittsburgh to win the division last year. They got the nod over the Browns because of division record (or head to head, take your pick). Do I think that any of the AFC North clubs will be a 12 game winner next year…no, not really. The Browns to me look like the best team in the division (sure call me a homer if you want, but they were 10-6 and improved). But with a 2nd place schedule instead of a 4th I don’t know that 12 wins is realistic. They will have to start beating teams with winning records, something they didn’t do much of last year.
First off, regarding the voting, I think the re-seeding is just a bad idea. As much as I love the fact that they’re trying to make teams play all 16 games, I just can’t agree with taking away home field for winning your division. So I’m glad Savage is voting against it.
But, as far as the AFC North is concerned, I think it’s an even, balanced division…..but a fairly weak one. No truly great teams, but no truly bad teams either. So it will be a dogfight for the division crown, and any of the 4 teams could end up winning it (Ok, yes, we’d all be shocked if Baltimore won it….but it’s not completely outside the realm of possibilities). I think 10 wins does win the AFC North this year. I could see a team winning more than 10 games, but I don’t see 2 teams winning 10 games.
AFC North = AL West?
I think that’s a fair comparison.
Angels = Steelers (perennial contenders)
Mariners = Browns (up and coming team)
Rangers = Ravens (team that contends when least expected)
A’s = Bengals (brief run of success, now in a freefall)
thinking more along the lines of either win your division or watch the playoffs from home… but that’s definitely a great team-to-team comparison…
Oh….right….that, too. 🙂
But then again, in baseball, that’s true of 66% of the divisions.
Our good buddy Ira Newble is a member of the Lakers today…
How’s that for comment hijack…
Nice crowbar. LeBron may go postal if Ira Newble wins a ring before he does…
Heck, 9-7 may win the AFC North this year. I know strength of schedule projections don’t always tell the whole story. Especially lately when teams can come out of nowhere to contend & contenders can fall flat on their face. But I know I was reading somwhere (ESPN, CBS, ?) that the AFC North could have a rough 2008. I found this link below. According to these projections, the AFC North’s 4 teams fall within the top 9 for toughest schedules in 2008. And Pitt being #1.
http://www.theredzone.org/strength.asp
Please, the A’s are going to be better then everyone expects. The Browns last year are much like the A’s this year will be, no one expects them to very good at the beginning of the season.
#10 Mark is dead on the money. All four teams in the AFC North have very tough schedules, against a lot of winning teams that are returning with their core players intact.
Something tells me that we’re headed back into the old schedule of ours again – my Steelers and your Browns beat the **** out of each other fighting for the division, and have too many injuries to compete in the playoffs 😉
Hey, wouldn’t it be awesome to have a Cleveland/Pittsburgh thanksgiving evening game?
WOW…never even crossed my mind that the Thanksgiving game could be against the Steelers. Even if it was against the ratbirds that would be something!
My guess for this season at least is that it’s more of a schedule thing. Our schedule as well as Pittsburgh’s are littered with winning teams. Even Cincinnati and Baltimore have to face the NFC East too.
Ten or at the very most eleven wins should be enough to win the division. Then again this all said months in advance, and it could easily turn out that schedule was actually lousy.
As for the talent in the division..
Pittsburgh – Is always in the hunt but not in the elite.
Browns – Are up and coming, need to prove last year wasn’t a fluke.
Cincinnati – Offense is ok, but the defense is still a mess. The Johnson situation may be a distraction.
Baltimore – Defense is no what in once was, obviously they needed a legit QB.
Oh yeah. Ten wins are surely enough. The AFC North though is quickly panning out like the NFC West:
Pittsburgh Steelers-Seattle Seahawks: Both perenial contenders, but have slown down recently and have up-and-coming teams nipping at their heels.
Cleveland Browns- Arizona Cardinals: Both have alot of talent and are expected to compete for the division, though Cleveland’s resurgence has been more recent and the Cardinals……well they’re the Cardinals.
Cincinnati Bengals-San Fransisco 49ers: One thought to be the heirs of the throne, their respective problems (defense and quaterbacks) have brought them down.
Baltimore Ravens-St. Louis Rams: They are both shells of what they used to be but they were both devestated with injuries this year. That being said, both of them still have a lot of rebuilding to do
Wow how times have changed that the Seahawks are considered perennial contenders!
Let’s not forget that the off-season isnt over. All the key free agents I can think of are gone but the draft is still looming.
As for schedule, the NFC East is tough, but so is the AFC South. I know this brings up bitterness that we still have but there were 3 playoff teams from the AFC South last year. Its no wonder our division is projected to have the toughest schedule.
Since we are playing arguably playing the 2 toughest divisions, I am not suprised that we went against the reseeding. The AFC north division champ would have gotten hosed.