Around the NFL 2011-2012

[Stitches]

My updated season prediction scale with sidenotes and rough record predictions. Feel free to comment.

I'm pretty sure you have too many wins (and not enough losses) in your predictions, and that doesn't even account for head to head matchups.

 

[JMcCurry08]

I like to think after the depth we added at positions in the draft we could win 6-7 games

 

[Soda]

Far too soon to make a 4-12 commitment to the Browns. The team's success will ultimately hinge on whether or not Weeden can get to the endzone.

 

[Sly]

The schedule is awfully tough. Surely some teams will come out and fall on their face and make it easier. The run game should help keep games close if the defense is adequate again this year, which should give us a chance to steal some. Even though we improved, we're still only competitive at certain spots, but not even average overall. I think 6 or 7 wins are possible. Only if we get some breaks though.

 

[Phills14]

The Browns won 4 games and barely scored touchdowns last year. There were 4 other games they could have easily won.
Cincinnati in week 1 (Not lined up on D game)
St Louis in week 10 (Botched FG snap)
Cincinnati in week 12 (Had 20-17 lead going into the 4th Q)
Arizona in week 15 (had a 17-7 lead going into the 4th Q and lost in OT)

Let's say they are able to keep the snap down and able to win 1 of the games where we blew 4th Q leads. This team was god awful but really should have been 6-10 or at worst 5-11 and completely unable to score a TD.

The schedule is tougher on paper but we added a beast of a running back which we did not have last year, a QB who can win you games vs a QB who can at best keep you in a game, a RT who should start right away and added some bodies to help an awful run defense (Rucker, 2 DTs and 2 LBs with speed). Not to mention the team has a full offseason to develop existing talent which was already solid but young so you have to figure some of the players on last year's team are ready to take a step forward. I can not see how this team takes a step backwards and stays at 4-12 or gets worse. I may have orange and brown color glasses on but I don't see where 7 wins is out of the question or even 8 for that matter. I wouldn't go higher but I think this team can be close if not reach 500.

I think we go 7-9 next year.

 

[MalTalm]

The Browns won 4 games and barely scored touchdowns last year. There were 4 other games they could have easily won.
Cincinnati in week 1 (Not lined up on D game)
St Louis in week 10 (Botched FG snap)
Cincinnati in week 12 (Had 20-17 lead going into the 4th Q)
Arizona in week 15 (had a 17-7 lead going into the 4th Q and lost in OT)

Let's say they are able to keep the snap down and able to win 1 of the games where we blew 4th Q leads. This team was god awful but really should have been 6-10 or at worst 5-11 and completely unable to score a TD.

The schedule is tougher on paper but we added a beast of a running back which we did not have last year, a QB who can win you games vs a QB who can at best keep you in a game, a RT who should start right away and added some bodies to help an awful run defense (Rucker, 2 DTs and 2 LBs with speed). Not to mention the team has a full offseason to develop existing talent which was already solid but young so you have to figure some of the players on last year's team are ready to take a step forward. I can not see how this team takes a step backwards and stays at 4-12 or gets worse. I may have orange and brown color glasses on but I don't see where 7 wins is out of the question or even 8 for that matter. I wouldn't go higher but I think this team can be close if not reach 500.

I think we go 7-9 next year.

I mentioned this before, but the Steelers are very quietly imploding. I live in a mix between Bengals and Steelers country down here near Dayton, and there is some real concern with what may end up happening this season. The Browns need to split with both the Steelers and the Bengals in order to be successful this season IMO. 7 wins is reasonable, and anything less than 7 would be a failure IMO. We still have a few holes we need to fill to be contenders, but this regime has now had enough time and enough draft picks that they should be producing a competitive team. There is no more room for spinning the tires or taking steps back. We need to start climbing forward.

 

[Triplethreat]

The Browns won 4 games and barely scored touchdowns last year. There were 4 other games they could have easily won.
Cincinnati in week 1 (Not lined up on D game)
St Louis in week 10 (Botched FG snap)
Cincinnati in week 12 (Had 20-17 lead going into the 4th Q)
Arizona in week 15 (had a 17-7 lead going into the 4th Q and lost in OT)

Let's say they are able to keep the snap down and able to win 1 of the games where we blew 4th Q leads. This team was god awful but really should have been 6-10 or at worst 5-11 and completely unable to score a TD.

The schedule is tougher on paper but we added a beast of a running back which we did not have last year, a QB who can win you games vs a QB who can at best keep you in a game, a RT who should start right away and added some bodies to help an awful run defense (Rucker, 2 DTs and 2 LBs with speed). Not to mention the team has a full offseason to develop existing talent which was already solid but young so you have to figure some of the players on last year's team are ready to take a step forward. I can not see how this team takes a step backwards and stays at 4-12 or gets worse. I may have orange and brown color glasses on but I don't see where 7 wins is out of the question or even 8 for that matter. I wouldn't go higher but I think this team can be close if not reach 500.

I think we go 7-9 next year.

We also could have been 2-14, with the horrible block in the back call on the punt return vs the Seahawks which shouldn't have been called back. Also, the Colts had a very close shot at beating us last year.

 

[cdt]

I feel like we're still going to be craptastic. Weeden isn't going to come in play like a seasoned vet because he played baseball. It'll help him not party late, and miss meetings, and blow his money but it's not going to keep him from throwing bad balls and not feeling the rush and overall speed of the game.

I think we'll likely incorrectly use Richardson if last year was any show of how Shurmur utilizes players. Hillis all carries or no carries. Hardesty the same, and Evan Moore not playing at all.

I know everyone is going to say "Oh you're so negative..." but there comes a point where it's like. We feel like we did well every offseason. We feel improved. We feel like "Hey this is our year where we are competitive." Yet it just doesn't happen. I like our new guys but I still think Shurmur is the worst coach in the NFL. I feel like he has no redeeming qualities at the NFL coaching level. I feel like he doesn't get the best out of his players like Harbaugh. I don't feel like he's a great motivator like as we NEVER scored in the 1st and 3rd quarters He didn't make necessary adjustments last year. He has absolutely no personality. I don't even think he's a players coach. I really struggle to find anything that merits him having an NFL coaching position. I don't think he deserved the job, he didn't do anything in St. Louis as his teams ranked in the mid to low 20's overall.

I just struggle to be optimistic about the Browns and especially with Gomer Pyle leading the charge.

 

[JMcCurry08]

I feel like we're still going to be craptastic. Weeden isn't going to come in play like a seasoned vet because he played baseball. It'll help him not party late, and miss meetings, and blow his money but it's not going to keep him from throwing bad balls and not feeling the rush and overall speed of the game.

I think we'll likely incorrectly use Richardson if last year was any show of how Shurmur utilizes players. Hillis all carries or no carries. Hardesty the same, and Evan Moore not playing at all.

He was a first year coach did you expect him to be perfect

 

[cdt]

He was a first year coach did you expect him to be perfect

No, not at all in fact. I expected rookie mistakes, I expected he'd be overwhelmed. I think it's fair to give him 4 games where those things were obvious. I wasn't surprised by the Cincinnati gaffe where we were saying "Defense on 3...1..2..." as AJ Green scored his 1st and easiest TD he will ever score in his entire career.

The problem was these things were a constant all season. They were happening in week 7 in week 11 in week 16. The alarming thing was we didn't see an improvement, if anything he digressed if that's even possible. We were 2-2 going into the bye and 2-10 the remaining 12 games losing the last 6. Say what you want about injuries but every team deals with injuries. It's football. Whether the team quit on him or whatever, the team was victim of his mistakes all season.

I mean the Alex Smith handoff? The Armond pitch on 4th and 1 when Hillis was gashing the defense? The game we ran the ball with 20 seconds left and no timeouts and didn't even get a field goal?

I'd really love the Pat Shurmur apologists to give a legitimate reason for why we should believe in him other than the lazy "He was a rookie", or "Colt sucked". Seriously break down decisions he made or didn't make and why they were right. I really want to know. I'm all for giving a rookie coach, player, whatever the benefit of the doubt but convince me that this guy showed something. Convince me he has qualities that will translate into being an advantage by him being our head coach. The rookie thing is weak IMO as Harbaugh came in to a team that was picking Top 10 the last few years. A team with a QB that for 7 years lost his starting job 14 times and had them on the verge of the Superbowl. Harbaugh unlike Shurmur wasn't a hindrance to his team he was complete opposite end of the spectrum. He was a fiery motivator. He was unconventional, creative, charismatic, passionate, accountable, involved.

He made the most of his players. He had lineman catching passes and ripping off 20 yard gains multiple times against us. He was up and down the sidelines. Talking to players, talking to coaches, clapping, yelling, encouraging, coaching, critiquing. Shurmur I shit you not looked like a Scarecrow half the time. Blank, lifeless gaze onto the field. Oh excuse me I believe we were down about 14-17 points late in a game and Phil Dawson bangs in a field goal and he held his hands high and signaled "It's good". That's about all the life we got out of him last year. A celebratory good field goal down 2 TDs and narrowly avoiding another shut out.

 

[Phills14]

Shurmur is probably the my biggest question mark with this team. I think we have enough talent to be a 500 team but how that talent is used is the issue.

Were Shurmur's problems last year the talent, the lack of offseason, being a rookie head coach or is he completely incompetent as a head coach. I think we will have a very clear understanding of that answer in January 2013.

 

[Soda]

Shurmur is probably the my biggest question mark with this team. I think we have enough talent to be a 500 team but how that talent is used is the issue.

Were Shurmur's problems last year the talent, the lack of offseason, being a rookie head coach or is he completely incompetent as a head coach. I think we will have a very clear understanding of that answer in January 2013.

I think it had a bit to do with talent level, time to implement identity and the fact that he is a first-year head coach. We sure will see this year, but I don't think he's as bad as everyone seems to think.

 

[Shakalu M.D.]

Shurmur is probably the my biggest question mark with this team. I think we have enough talent to be a 500 team but how that talent is used is the issue.

Were Shurmur's problems last year the talent, the lack of offseason, being a rookie head coach or is he completely incompetent as a head coach. I think we will have a very clear understanding of that answer in January 2013.

I don't think he's totally incompetent as a HC. He actually did a good job of maximizing Bradford's talents with no line and no receivers to throw to. In fact, his numbers got worse even though they added more talent around him. I do think having no camp hurt him and he was in over his head a bit. I also think a big part of the problem was Colt just sucking really hard. Even though Seneca isn't very good, the offense seemed to open up when he was the QB because opposing teams at least needed to respect his arm.

I think Chilly will help him a ton. He has experience coaching elite RBs and QBs with big arms. We may not win many games, but I expect the offense to look completely different next season.

 

[Phills14]

I hope he turns out to be a successful coach for us, I really do. I want him to be successful with us. However; I know it's a very real possibility that he is awful. Can go either way at this point. This season will be very telling about him.

 

[davedugan43]

I'm pretty sure you have too many wins (and not enough losses) in your predictions, and that doesn't even account for head to head matchups.

Oh. I'm sure I did. It's just the range, give or take, that I can see the teams reaching.