DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum 2021 Schedule

Someone please correct me where I'm wrong. Other than KC week 1, GB, and our own division, I don't see a whole lot of very tough games where I would expect us to struggle. Not saying we won't, but I'm seeing a lot of very beatable opponents (none of Texans, Bears, Vikings, Broncos, Patriots, Vikings, Lions scare me). AZ is good, and Chargers should be good, but you never know how a 2nd year QB phenom could go. Bengals might have taken a big leap this offseason, but Pitt probably hasn't.

I’d say there are a handful of games that are 50/50 type IMO ... at LAC, at MIN, Las Vegas, both Baltimore, both Pittsburgh, at CIN, Arizona, and even at NE

There are a few games where I think we SHOULD win for sure: Houston, Cincinnati at home, Denver, Chicago, and Detroit.

There are two main wild cards in play for us:

1. there were defenses that absolutely shut down our offense; and I don't mean during the three weather games. Can our offense take another leap forward and counter/defeat the things teams did to us to shut us down?

2. The defense. No secrets here, we were bad. We're a lot better on paper. Can we move from paper to reality get ourselves off the field consistently? All of those ages-old arguments about the offense needing to give the defense rest and all that have absolutely ZERO merit here... our defense couldn't get itself off the field even in the first quarter of games, much less silly arguments of being tired at the ends of games. Are the new pieces enough? Can we actually force a team to punt when we get them to 3rd & 10+ yards?


If the answers to those two questions are Good, then there is no team on this schedule that we have less than a 50/50 shot with, and most skyrocket to a ballpark around 80/20. If you are hoping to bet the Browns as the underdog in any games this year, you better get those bets in before Week 1 removes doubts in Vegas.

That said: the divide between us and KC is was HUGE.

Until injuries began to decimate the snot outta them in that game, they were doing whatever they wanted and we were spinning our wheels. We won't be that lucky in Week 1; we'll need to beat them by going toe-to-toe with them.

And, if we hadn't beaten them up, I do not think the Bucs beat them in the Super Bowl. This league is ours to take, IF we can put it all together.

in terms of your #1 point about our offense ... I sensed a lot of it was a lack of separation and big play ability by our WRs and TEs. I think we were last in YAC.

So if teams jammed us and took away our PA game then we were cooked. I think a lot rides on OBJ’s ability to build chemistry with Baker ... clearly they haven’t had it at all to this point

That is also where a guy like Schwartz, along with OBJ, can hopefully have some value. When D's do that to us, it is imperative that our WR's find a way to win early in their routes so that we can force a change in how they're playing us.

Thanks for all the updates during the day with dates and opponents. Scored hotel for every night I plan on staying for decent prices.

In the end the biggest game of all will be in the Cleveland.

The road to the Super Bowl runs thru the Dawg Pound.

j/c...



Which win total over or under do you feel best about picking right now?

Walder: Steelers under 9 wins. With an aging Roethlisberger and a very questionable offensive line, this offense could get ugly fast. The defense was elite last season, but we know that side of the ball is less stable from year to year, particularly with a few players -- Cam Heyward and Joe Haden, among others -- reaching the twilight of their careers.

What's your early Super Bowl pick?

Clay: Buccaneers over Browns. Tampa Bay will return its entire starting lineup from last season's Super Bowl run, and its young defense should only be better in 2021. Cleveland's offense was already very good last season, and the front office did an A-plus job overhauling and improving its defense during the offseason. As long as Baker Mayfield doesn't stumble, the Browns should be legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

Walder: Browns over Rams. Cleveland's roster is just overflowing with talent. From Myles Garrett to Odell Beckham Jr. to Denzel Ward to a strong offensive line, the Browns are stacked to the point where they should be able to win -- even without an elite-tier QB. The Rams have incredible upside with stars on defense and potential improvement on offense with Stafford now under center.

What is happening

It's happening.

We're living in 'Opposite George' world.

j/c...

I expect the Baker/Beckham connection to flourish this season. Baker was basically a one read QB until after the bye in 2020, Beckham was gone before that happened.

On one hand, the "one read" approach was a great choice by Stefanski. Baker needed to get comfortable, he was way too uncomfortable looking beyond the first read. On the other, the approach really stifled Beckham's production.

Even when OBJ was the first read, there was a tendency to force the ball regardless of whether he won the route. When he wasn't the first read? I can't count the times OBJ was wide open and Baker was still focused on another receiver. That led to a lot of frustration for OBJ and put an even bigger microscope on their "chemistry".

Add another wild-card with Schwartz, opening more opportunities to Beckham, with a QB that can see the field in confidence? Watch out.

As well as we played down the stretch (particularly Baker), we looked slow. Now we have fast and explosive x 2, provided they both stay healthy. If Baker picks up where he left off, OBJ may once again look like a human cheat-code...

Looking at the Browns schedule I predict their record will be 13-4. Their 4 losses will be @KC, @LA Chargers, @Balt., and @Pitt.

I think the Browns are only going to lose 4 games. @KC, @LAC @Balt and @ Pitt.

Wow awesome! Glad to hear that

j/c:

The first game against KC scares me a bit.

A flashback to the 2019 hype.

Yep. Scares the hell out of me. I'm not even thinking past week 1, and we have our hands full already then.

17 sprints.

Until 2021 begins and the team goes to the place we all think they can go...yes it is hype. This time in 2019, many fans also thought the prognostications and predictions weren't hype either. And many analysts said back then the Browns were a top team in the NFL and super bowl contenders, so it isn't really any different now, except for the retention of the HC which is important, for sure.

Look, I'm not saying hype is a bad thing. Teams are hyped every year, rightly or wrongly, correctly or incorrectly. But it is what it is....hype until everything unfolds. I do feel exponentially more confident this time around than 2019, for the record.

I'm finding a lot of wet blankets in the national media as well. THey don't want to believe that the Browns are good.

There is hype. But we have consistency now. I think a lot of people want to make sure that the consistency is there before they hop on the bandwagon.

Pretty sure I'm not alone with this. I love us starting out against the best in the AFC.

Win or lose, we'll get a good gauge of where we really are starting from.

Except back then we didn’t know Freddie was a turd of a coach. Now we know we have the coach of the year.

We always lose to Detroit and the Broncos. We will lose to one of them.

Always is doing a lot of work here.

Always does....and I think you know that always doesn't always mean always.

Kinda enjoy that we get green bay towards the end of the season.

Gives us an idea of who we are and who they are by that time. Could be in contention for a playoff spot and that's scary. But I wouldn't want to see the packers in the middle of the season... that's the meaty area where the good teams are just waking up and making adjustments.

That you have Steelers and then Bengals after them is worth it too. The Steelers are old in a lot of areas... should be interesting if they fade like they did last year.

And Cincy is just unproven. And Baker has shown that he has their number

THis is the first year in the longest time I could remember where it's like. I've actually been hyped for the next season. I've had this feeling for Baseball and Basketball... don't really remember for football...

JUst so damn excited

I agree with you that people are waiting to see if it's consistency or an anomaly.

Consistency is tricky way to phrase it. Yes, we are going into our second season with more talent and the same coaching staff. Our defense on paper looks vastly improved. Our O seemed to get better late in the season. All positive signs moving forward.

But if it's possible for our die hard fans to do, let's just look at the word consistency itself. Does one successful season under a rookie HC actually fit the definition of the word consistency?

I think the average NFL fan who is not emotionally attached to the Browns sees the word consistency with a much longer term period of time in mind. I don't think one successful season for a team that has been terrible overall since 1999 fits the definition of consistency.

At this point I think the average person would question if it's an anomaly or the beginning of consistency. And I can see why they would view it that way.

Haven't won against Detroit since 01... won against Denver in 18... but the last win against Denver before that was 1990..

Which is 5 years before Baker was born.

And Cincy spent 3 draft picks on the offensive line, and free agency, and hired a new O Line coach, former coach to return, < and yet they Still did not properly address their weakness at left tackle.
( I spent 2 hours reading articles on their O line last week, apparently they didn't have a real right guard all last year, and they have 14 OL on the team and are ruining all of them.) Good for them, their starting safety stinks too, (analyticaly,) and played 99% of snaps.

To a Browns fan - this is consistency! lol.

I get what you're saying, Pit.

I think I'd trade out "consistency" for two conditions that may even be more valuable... continuity and upward trajectory. Those two (while, again, "young" in nature) are pretty much indisputable.

The Seahawks only drafted 3 players this year, 2nd fewest since whenever. They however still got Eskridge a WR. What happened to all the Seahawks draft picks.

The last time the Browns and Bills played in the regular season, The Browns won, but the Bills got robbed by a bad call imo, and Myles Garrett had to have a big game several times over that game, to keep it close.

When I read up on the Bills, they don't like their tight ends, they have bunch who stink, (people who don't like, Njoku, the bills are one of your #1 obsticales and they would love to have Njoku, or a tight end of his caliber.

The Schedule according to the Browns website ended up the 2021 Browns regular season schedule

1 at chiefs
2 Texans
3 Bears
4. at Minnesota
5. at La Chargers
6. Cardinals October 17th
7. Broncos October 21st, Thurs. Night.
8. Pittsburgh
9. at Cincinnati
10 at New England
11. Lions, Nov. 21
12. At Baltimore Sunday Night, nov. 28th
13. bye week, --------
14. Baltimore
15. Raiders December 18th/19th tbd.
16. at Packers
17. at pittsburgh January 3rd. MNF. 8:15
18. bengals.
(And I'll add)

19 bye) First round bye
20 Divisional
21. Conference Championship
22. media week
23. Super Bowl.

24. Celebrate
25 clean up after celebration.

Later Parade.

My biggest concern isn't who we play, but rather, even though last season was good, we won a lot of close games, some against weak opponents. We also nearly blew huge/decent leads that we won. It reminded me a bit of the 1980

MY optimism comes from the fact that unless we lose a ton of starters our D should be vastly improved and could possibly be the strength of our team by season's end.

We went into prevent defense against teams in games we had huge leads. You can agree with that strategy or disagree with that strategy but that created a lot of close victories. If you actually re-watched some of those games you would see that some of those games weren't nearly as close as the score would indicate.