DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum How tough has the Browns schedule been?

Browns Losses
10-2 - San Diego
9-3 - Baltimore
8-4 - New Orleans
7-5 - Cincinnati
7-5 - Cincinnati
7-5 - Denver
6-5 - Carolina
5-7 - Pittsburgh

Browns wins
7-5 - Kansas City
7-5 - NY Jets
6-6 - Atlanta
2-10 - Oakland


Remaining schedule
5-7 - Pittsburgh
9-3 - Baltimore
3-9 - Tampa Bay
4-8 - Houston

It is pretty tough....I think it was ranked as one of the tougher schedules at the beginning of the season....part of the reason I said we would win 4 games.

That said....it is probably a little easier than first ranked based on both Cincy and Pitt playing off of expected form....but it still probably ranks pretty high in that dept.

3 wins against still-eligible playoff teams, that ain't bad,...2-3 of those other games go our way,...?? and we're right in the middle of it !! That's what I really despise,....the ones we should have won,...

New Orleans
Baltimore
Pittsburgh

Yeah and against all of the teams in the Playoff Hunt we've been right there with them with the exception of the Cincinatti game.

our schedule as of right now including all the games the opponents have

102 wins
89 losses

not too easy to play at all

It's been one of the toughest in the NFL. We play the defending SB champs twice (Pittsburgh), the AFC North defending Champs twice (Cincy), the AFC West defending Champs (Denver), a recharged Ravens team twice, the Falcons, the Panthers, the Chiefs, the Chargers, the surprising Saints and we still have the Bucs (I think we can win this game and maybe Houston); also we still have at Pitt and at Baltimore, these games will be tough to win but anything can happen.

Now that I've said I think we have had one of the toughest schedules in the NFL, I'll also say that I think we could and should be 3 to 5 wins better than our record is. Pitt, the Rats, the Saints, the Panthers, the Chargers, and I think even Denver were very winnable games if we had any kind of offensive production and a healthy defense.

I agree Rabidfan. While we've had a tough schedule, we could EASILY have at least 2 more Ws, if not more.

But, outside of the 2 Cincy games, we've been in all the games. At the beginning of the season, all I wanted was to see improvement and no major injuries. I think we've seen some definite improvement, and this season has really helped us see exactly where our needs are *cough* OL *cough*.

2 more wins would sure as hell be nice!!!!

This is why I haven't been too upset about this year (cept the stupid Cinci game I just had to attend).

We have played a rough schedule and lost a few games we should have won. While I'd love to be 5-7 to 7-5, I'll take what we have now. We're showing improvement and with some luck with injuries and a few more pieces we'll definately be in contention next year.

tough schedule, but i like that.. i'd rather see my team play against the best, so you know how good your team is, rather than guessing at how good your team would stack up against the best...

i think the north division i the afc is one of the toughest... the browns are at the bottom but have shown that they can fight with the best, and they've beaten 3 teams who are all still eligible for making the playoffs... the jets have been one of the league's big surprises, and we controlled them for 4 quarters...

i know we should have won the saints, ravens, and steelers game, but i also throw the chargers into that mix too, our defense played exceptionally, and bottled up the best player in the nfl (by far) for 3 quarters, and it was our crappy red zone offense that kept us from losing this game, we could have easily won that game by 2 touchdowns, and the chargers in my opinion, are top 5 in this league, easily...

I don't think they're are really any easy schedules in the NFL, but it does seem like every year we play one of the toughest.

But as long as we play in the AFC North, at least for the next few years, our schedule is always going to be difficult.

This is the NFL... all games should really be decent. Its not like college...

Its nice to be close, but sometimes these close losses are more painful than the blowouts to me.

If we beat Cincinnati twice, they sit at 5-7 right now.

If we beat Denver, they're 6-6.

Carolina would be 5-7. (after tonight's loss)

Pittsburgh would be 4-8 if we'd beaten them.

Lose most of your games and your schedule suddenly becomes much "tougher".

But of all the games you picked to prove your point, Cinci is the best team to play against us. I highly doubt would could have beaten them with 1 good CB (Bodden), rather than also having Cutch or Baxter. They excel throwing the ball which we have trouble defending against.

Of course its going to get "easier" when we win games but even proven teams have beaten us by small margins.

I mean replace the Colts with us and I think we'd all be happier going against the Texans, Titans and the Jags twice than what we have now in the AFC North.

We're a better team then our record suggests and next year will only be greater.

That is partly due to the fact we are a weaker team. Beating us contributes to other teams winning percentage. A otherwise .500 team becomes a winning team if they face us.

j/c

I hear some 'we shoulda' beat them and we coulda' beat those'...fact is, we're not good enough to have won those games. I maintain that if we weren't so hapless looking on films then KC wouldn't have taken us so lightly. The only guy that was really up for that game was Gonzo (thanks to our big mouthed TE).

We play one decent game and people think we're in the playoff mix. We play one lousy game and people want to change the regime. <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Once we got any kind of consistency, we will be tough to beat. Until then, i'll be here, whining and crying about our losses. <img src="/images/graemlins/saywhat.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/rofl.gif" alt="" />

Wide open here...

Two things stand out, 1) we win any one of those games, Rats, Pitts or NO, and we're right in the playoff hunt because 2) the remaining games are all winnable. This team is improving and another off-season like the last one, (minus the injury debacle,) couple with another year in the system and we're be a playoff caliber team. Especially since our schedule would be a little "softer" (at least on paper) facing teams like SF, Arizona, Rams, Buffalo, etc.

I would say next years schedule looks like it is much more favorable. With the exception of Seattle and NE it looks like it is a pretty easy schedule.


HOME
Buffalo
Miami
San Francisco
Seattle
AFC South
AWAY
New England
NY Jets
Arizona
St. Louis
AFC West



http://www.johnnyroadtrip.com/schedules/nfl_future_afcn.htm

And if we don't pass the Steelers in the division, the AFC South game will probably be Houston and the AFC West game will definitely be Oakland... if we do pass Pittsburgh and finish 3rd then the AFC South game will probably be Tennessee and the AFC West game will either be Denver or KC...

The way we are improving on the field, combined with the relatively "easier" the schedule will pan out because of our poor record, will result in a much better record SOONER than we think. That's how "poor" teams have such big turnarounds from year-to-year.

The thing is schedule difficulty is determined by how a team did the previous season.

What looks to be an easy or hard schedule doesn't always pan out.

Take this year as an example. The draft order if there are ties is seeded by difficulty of schedule which is already determined by last seasons record. By that, we have a harder schedule than most. The rub is both Cincy and Pittsburgh aren't playing nearly as tough as their records of last year...and being in the same division...that is sort of a double whammy.

If I am wrong about the draft order with respect to which season they use to set the order of picks...someone can correct me.....but that is my understanding.

The thing is schedule difficulty is determined by how a team did the previous season.

I think that's what I said,...sorry if it was unclear. We have been playing well enough to compete in all but 2 games this year. If our record this year continues to be "poor"-- while we still play the aforementioned "improving" football---we will greatly benefit from both next year's schedule being prdeicated on this one's results, even while our butt-kicking improvement doesn't necessarily correlate to current victories,....

In other words, we're a lot closer than we think. Just trying to be positive,....

In a season, there are only 2 games that in some way take into account your record. You play your division opponents and you play a schedule of non division opponents that is set years in advance.

You can look to see who we will be playing 3-4 years from now. The only thing not set are the two games and the game dates.

Peen, the other simple fact is that we need to start winning more than one division game a year.... we need to not worry about who we play out of our division as much as worry about the teams that are in it... right now the best team is Baltimore and I don't think the Bengals are that far off even though they haven't had a real good year... these are the teams we need to worry about. If we can win 4 division games a year, I believe that by default we can win at LEAST half of our other games which gets us 9 wins....

So we need to stop worrying about how good the Jets might be next year or the Patriots or the Dolphins... we need to set our sights on the division teams and work on getting a winning record against them, the rest I believe will take care of itself...

I agree.....if you don't win the majority of your division games, you can almost forget it.

And those two games could be the difference in qualifying at 10-6 rather than sweating it out at 8-8.

Doesn't matter, we're improving, and that's where the battle is.

I agree.....if you improve enough, it doesn't matter who you have on the schedule.

Call me crazy but I still think we can realistically get to 7-9. I don't really see a scenario in which we would win out but if we can get a win on thursday the possibility is definitely there.

all we have to do to win out is just keep winning the next game. <img src="/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Pittsburgh... it IS winnable.
Baltimore... is is DEFINITELY winnable
Tampa Bay... is one we SHOULD win
Houston... they've had out number being as bad as we are in recent years, but again, it's one we SHOULD win.

6-10 at minimum, but 8-8 is VERY possible for us.

YES !! I say scrap the draft placement; it's a crapshoot anyways. Besides winnning out is our only shot at the playoffs this year ( I never give up,...).

So we need Oakland to beat Cincy,... <img src="/images/graemlins/rolleyes1.gif" alt="" />

[color:"orange"]If Frye was starting this weekend and considering the key injuries for Pittsburgh, I would predict a Browns victory. But since DA is still virtually an unkown, I'm still going to go with Pittsburgh...who knows maybe Frye comes back on Thursday or gets inat some point? [/color]

I'd rather the Browns pick #15 than #3.

We got Winslow and Wimbley outside the top 5. We got Warren, Brown and Couch in the top 5.

Go for 8-8, no need to lose out and pick another high priced flop.

Top 5 player is worth too much risk...i agree...i hope we pick somewehre in 7-12 range

[color:"orange"]I agree. [/color]

We got Winslow and Wimbley outside the top 5.

Those drafts were pretty deep. No matter where we pick, we just gotta pick the right talent.

I'd rather win,...it's important to team chemistry and leadership.

j/c

to say the season is lost and lose out for a high pick is the stupidest philosophy ever

Yeah, I can't understand how losing can be looked upon in any positive way.

For clarification...
"The thing is schedule difficulty is determined by how a team did the previous season."

Yes, it is determined by the previous season, which on February 5, 2007 (the day after the Super Bowl) will be the current 2006 season in which we are playing now. They make the distinction that it is the "previous" season since there is no "current" season when draft order is determined, which happens after the Super Bowl (and they do not use the "next" season for determining weakness of schedule).

I'm surprised that anyone would want to have a top-5 pick on this board. Besides the fact that this means the Browns have another poor season, the value for price a team gets from a top-5 pick is worse than picks later in the round. It is known as the "Loser's Curse" and is detailed in a paper by Massey & Thaler (start at page 32 "Discussion on Cost-Benefit Analysis")

The Loser's Curse - Massey & Thaler

So, to all those who yearn for a top-5 draft pick, I say that I'm happy you're here in the chat room and not the draft room...

That's one of the reasons why Savage was looking for players who could help the Browns beat Pittsburg. If we can beat Pittsburgh twice, we should be able to beat Baltimore (very similar type of team...both Offensively and Defensively) twice...then all we have to worry about is Cincy... <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

If we can beat Pittsburgh and Baltimore twice each...we should also be strong enough to beat at least 50% of the teams on our schedule (most likely more...but I'm being conservative here... <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />), That would make us 10 - 6...rather than 6 - 10... A 10 win season would mean a playoff spot...