Despite my permanent loyalty pledge to the teams of northeast Ohio, I can see the writing on the wall. The Cleveland Browns are still two or three years from being considered a contender for the AFC playoffs. Yes, Mike Holmgren is the right man to run the team and he has an amazing track record, but it’s not going to happen overnight.
Most of the experts on the Browns (aside from the ones at ESPN.com, who have no use for Cleveland unless it can get them bonus ratings) see them as a 5-to-7 win team at best, and I totally agree with that. The 4-win streak at the end of 2009 was promising and fun to watch, but let’s not forget who we played in those four wins.
Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Oakland and Jacksonville were not quality wins by any stretch of the imagination, but as Browns fans, we took them happily.
While I don’t see us being any better than 6-10, I do see the orange and brown being competitive in most of those ten losses. Even last year, the Browns could have won either game against Cincinnati, they were within a TD of San Diego, and that Detroit game was simply stripped away from them.
But will the oddsmakers in Vegas see them as competitive?
Pay attention to the very first football spread you see on Cleveland. If the Browns are underdogs by more than 6 points at Tampa Bay in Week 1, they’re not being taken as seriously as they should.
Everything that I see at this point tells me that not enough people will give credit to the Browns. If I were a gambling man (oh, wait, I am), I’d be watching the spread closely on this team.
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