As a Buffalo Bills fan, I probably shouldn’t feel bad about other teams’ ineptitude since we’ve had to deal with it ourselves, but I can’t help but feel sorry for the fans of the Cleveland Browns. Since their return for the 1999 season, the Browns have only finished above .500 twice in 11 years and are coming off seasons of 4-12 and 5-11 records in 2008 and 2009 respectively. The Browns are hoping that a new “battery” in the offense can propel this team back to respectability, but from the look of things, it might just be more of the same.
Jake Delhomme takes over as the starting quarterback after a long tenure in Carolina with Seattle castaway Seneca Wallace as his backup. The obvious question is: How much does Jake Delhomme have left in the tank at 35? From what I saw last year, not much, so I expect to see a lot of Seneca Wallace this season.
However, it’s not all bad offensively for the Browns. Jerome Harrison emerged in the second half of the year to be a big threat at the running back spot. You combine that with a pretty good offensive line and you have the makings of a team that’s going to look to pound the rock and grind teams out by dominating time of possession.
Even in cases where Delhomme or Wallace has to throw the football, they have credible options. The Browns have a lot of young, talented receivers, including Josh Cribbs and Mohammed Massaquoi that could break out this season. I also like the pick-up of veteran tight-end Ben Watson as a nice safety outlet.
The big problem for this team though will continue with their defence. Other than Shaun Rogers in the middle of the defensive line, they just don’t have the horses to get them to the pay window. Defensively, the Browns were the worst team in takeaways, 2nd worst in total yards allowed per game and in the bottom 5 in passing and rushing yards allowed per game.
For the Browns to win, they will have to rely on drives that take up a lot of time and convert into touchdowns at the same time. They can’t afford to try and get into a defensive battle against an opponent or they will lose. They can’t get into a boat race with an opponent either. Their personnel won’t allow for that.
Two players to look out for in camp are Seneca Wallace and Josh Cribbs. Wallace has a chance to supplant Delhomme in training camp if he can have a good camp and Delhomme struggles. Wallace was always behind Matt Hasselbeck in Seattle, but now that he finally goes into a training camp knowing that the spot is up for grabs, can he elevate his game? Same question for Cribbs. Everyone knows him as an amazing kick/punt returner, but with a chance to be a starting wide receiver now, can he step up and show that he’s not one-dimensional?
2010 Prediction: 3-13