DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Last regular season loss?? Playoff possibilities?

Was the loss to the Steelers our last loss of the regular season??

Might be time to discuss the odds and focus on our wildcard chances.

I don't normally get too far ahead of things, but looking over the remainder of the schedule, I don't see any slam dunk losses

It very well could've have been our last loss. I think we're capable of running the table from here on out, if we can manage to play two full halves of football each Sunday.

I think we'll finish 10-6 though...which is still a good shot at a wild card

I want the Steelers again in the playoffs!

I was thinking that if the Browns could win 2 of 3 against Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore, they'd have more than a reasonable chance for a wildcard. Since the 2 of 3 is still possible, I think the Browns are a legitimate playoff spot contender. As DC has said before, the Browns are capable of beating any team or losing to any team each week. If the team can bounce back from the disappointing loss to the Steelers and beat Baltimore, I think the team will really have turned the corner. As of now 5-2 in the last 7 games makes it 10-6, which should almost definitely make the playoffs. Looking at those last 7 games, here's what I think will happen.

@Baltimore W
Houston W
@Arizona L
@NY Jets W
Buffalo W
@Cincinnati L
San Francisco W

After I listed the remaining games, Houston, the Jets, and San Fran automatically jumped out to me as wins. Then I added Baltimore based on how they're playing. To be honest, I could actually see the Browns winning out based on this schedule. I put losses at Arizona and Cincinnati based solely on the defense's inability to stop the pass. I'm almost afraid to think as positively as I do about the Browns season from this point on.

In short, I see the team winding up 10-6. (A break either for or against could lead to 9-7 or 11-5). Bottom line: wild card and playoffs!!!!

There isn't another team on our schedule that we can't beat.. I'll stop short of saying we "should beat" them, but we can... Titans have played well and have a mobile qb... and if we can let Ben run on us, what will Vince do? Buffalo has been playing better, Arizona had a solid game yesterday.... There are no gimme's but they are all winnable... I think 10-6 isn't outside the realm of possibility, we just need to start another 3 game win streak next week.

Our sked is easier now, no doubt... we got through the toughest part with five wins - we'd have taken that two months ago and thanked God for it.

But I really doubt we'll win seven straight. It would not shock me if we lost either at Balt. or at Cinci... we're not that good to think that we can't lose 2, 3 or even 4 games the rest of the way....
I said in diam's "come one, come all..." thread before the season began we'd go 10-6, I'm standing by it.

1 team with a winning record the rest of the way. As i said on the other thread, I really cant see us losing more than one game to any of the teams left on our schedule.

Let's beat the Ravens, and then move on to the next scheduled game.

funny that the ones expecting not to lose more than 1more game this season are the ones on RAC's case...

setting RAC up for failure with unreasonable expectations, PEEN and MOURG?...

i'm forced to think this is the motive, as i cannot imagine how people who see our team play each week can honestly proclaim we'll put together 6-7 wins, regardless of SOS...

Agreed.

I highly doubt that we rattle off a 7 game winning streak.....

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Might be time to start checking other teams schedules....

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We play the Ravens next.

Indeed.



Jville still has

Indy
Tn
Pitt
Buff

TN has

Jville
Indy


Bills have

Pats
Jags
Browns
Giants

Don't forget the Chargers.....

Here are the standings as they matter for your current quest:

http://www.nfl.com/standings?category=conf

It's a nice thought. I hope it plays out that way.

I still can't believe 12-4 wouldn't win the division...

I said before the season this team should win 11 games but I didnt think it was possible because of Charlie Frye and Romeo Crennel. Charlie is gone and that makes it possible for this team to win despite RAC being so inept.

I am basing 11 or 12 wins on the schedule not on the set up RAC for failure. These teams are really really bad. Will RAC do anything to help us win? No he wont but man the teams we play are headed to a top 10 draft selection.

I think we will make the playoffs and be one and done.
Romeo will last till next year.

We have a brutal schedule next year and we will be lucky to win 4 games. Romeo will be gone.

Realisticly, we're probably going to have some off games and will drop two or three more of these five: Arizona, Buffalo, Jets, Houston or Cincy. I think we should mondo-destroy Baltimore (but they will see it as a game to get back on track!) San Fran shouldn't be a problem. That still leaves us at 9-7, maybe 10-6, and not in the playoffs. Heck, maybe even 8-8. But that's still a damn sight better than what I would've expected after the first week.

Of course, we're not mathematically eliminated from winning the Division either! Pitt drops games to NE, Jax and one more mystery team, and we win out and that's that! And monkeys might fly out of my butt!

I think it would be great to get a wildcard and knock Pitt out of the playoffs. That's my dream scenario.

I'm most worried about our matchups with Arizona, Cinci and Buffalo. More specifically Zona and Cinci.

Otherwise, I think we match up well with the rest of our opponents.

Buffalo is the only team that worries me. they are such a well coached team. The injuries and the players they lost during the offseason and they are now above 500 and have played everyone close. If anyone had an excuse to fold it would be the Bills but damn, you gotta love what they have done especially considering everything that has happened to them.

I don't think we beat Cinci next time.

Everyone else I believe we have a chance.

But I think we will finish 9-7 and just barely miss the playoffs.

People on here are acting like we've won some of these games decidedly. It's just the opposite. The opposing teams have been in it til the end with the exception of the Ravens.

And with a 32nd ranked defense, a 7 game winning streak is completely out of the question.

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Buffalo is the only team that worries me.

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They've now won four in a row.

Fish
Bengals
Jets
Rats

About the same kind of teams we've beat. I expect to win that game but they worry me too.

Why worry about the Bills when they have the Pats, Jags and Giants left,...??

That's 0-3 right there.

And 0-4 after we beat 'em.

We need to worry more about either the Jags or Titans taking a dive,....actually we need to worry more about how we are going to stop anybody with no running game and its resultant tired defense.

I'll take it one week at a time.

The offense is clicking, and they are able to move the ball, but its going to be up to our defense to see if we can make the post season.

Even if the Browns did lose another game, I am just happy that they have the chance to improve their record from the past 2 years. IMPROVEMENT here we come!

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Running the table is out of the question,...you don't even WANT to do that anyway -- it sets you up for a first round fall.

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I'll take my chances.

I'll hold my breath till we play ther ravens first, then the texans and so forth.

This is November, this is the time things start getting tougher. OC's and DC's have had some time to look over their teams and start fixing whats wrong with them. They want to win just as badly as we do and they aren't just goping to roll over because you guys think we have a soft schedule ahead of us.

In fact, I think it's possible we may even regress after last Sunday.. a loss against a rival like that takes it out of a team especially when a HC makes some blunders like that and the team takes it hard. 4 out of the next 7 are on the road.. We all thought we'd beat Oakland..

We'll lose at least 2 and as many as 4. There's "possible" and then there's "likely". I'd have to think this season a rousing success at 9-7 considering I picked them to be 6-10 at the outset. If they want the playoffs, they can only lose 1 more.

In the AFC, Buffalo has a tough schedule, probably looking at 8-8. Jax has a toughish schedule but I could easily see them winning 4 more, makes them 10-6. Tennessee, outside of games against Indi, Jax and SD, have a cake schedule. Likely 9-7 or 10-6. If we win this week, then we're one of 3 or 4 teams that could pull it off. If we lose we fall in the next tier of clubs.... KC, Denver, Baltimore, Houston... and out of it by a game or two.

Since 2000 there's been only one team to get into the playoffs will less than 10-6... da Browns. And 10-6 only gets you in half the time.

We are probably the last team that should consider a future game a slam dunk victory. We've won a lot of games this year, but we've never dominated a team or physically imposed our will on the opposition. A lot of people like to remark that we COULD be 7-2 at this point. However, what people fail to remember is that we could be 2-7. Remember, we had to come back from 14 and 15 point deficits in two weeks to get wins over the Rams and Seattle. The Bengals game could've very easily been a loss as well (we did give up 45 points )

In my opinion, to consider any game a slam dunk victory, we have to prove that we can beat inferior opponents without allowing them to still be in the game in the 4th quarter. Unfortunately, even against the lowly Dolphins, we gave them oppurtunities late in the game.

Are the last 7 games winnable? Absolutely. But they are far from a sure thing. I don't want to sound like a pessimist, but our terrible defense, inconsistent running game, and the occasional bouts of stupidity that overcome our coaching staff are enough to give any opponent a fighting chance.


(On the bright side, our big play capabilities on offense and special teams are enough to keep our Brownies in any game as well! )

Guarantee, huh? You sure you want to do that? If you're up for a bet, I'll take it.

To the topic, I think we can't assume 10-6 makes the playoffs. There are two teams with 6 wins in wildcard contention. That means if they go 4-3, they'll probably beat us out, based on our conference record. It's going to take 11-5 or 12-4.

That said, running the table isn't out of the realm of possibility. But it is unlikely. The two games that jump out at me as the toughest are at Arizona, a team not unlike our own but with some injury troubles, and Buffalo, a team that is starting to gel and will be playing us with a similar chance at the Wildcard.

It could very well be our last loss, with a but!! That is we still have a few games against teams that should be a lot better then they are. And they are a risk to be sure. Lets put it this way, we can and maybe we even should win the rest of our games, but saying and doing it are 2 very different things. I sure as hell hope like hell the Browns aren't looking at the schedule and thinking they have it in the bag. It will take the very best effort this team can put forward to win out, but yes they can do it, now they have to go and make it happen. If they lose a game maybe even 2 they are still going to be in pretty good shape I think.

The if thing is this though, if we can win out and Pitt takes a dive in a few of the tough games they have coming up we could still compete for the North. That said if we close out the season well, and continue to improve as a team even if we don't get a playoff bid I will be pretty happy with the progress we have made. This season while I am not writing it off by any stretch sets the table for next season when I think we will make a very serios run at not just the playoffs but the SB as well, and thats what I want more then I want to see the Browns in the playoffs this season. That was my hope going into this season and continues to be, SB next year or bust!!

JMHO

Cleveland can make the playoffs, and here's why
Nov. 13, 2007
By Charley Casserly
CBS Sports

Despite a heartbreaking loss, Cleveland's season still can have a very happy ending, meaning a playoff berth!

That's right, the Cleveland Browns (5-4) can make the playoffs. Why do I think that? Well, a number of reasons ...

They have a very favorable schedule for the rest of the season. They will not play a team with a winning record in their last seven games, though only three of those games will be at home. At this point in the season, schedules do become a factor. The more losing teams you play late in the season, two things are liable to happen to you.

1. You might be playing a team that is playing out the string that "does not show up" that day. 2. Your team does not come mentally ready to play and you lose a game you should not. I do not sense Cleveland will let that happen because it is a team that seems excited about its newfound success and can't get enough of it.

So why have the Browns been able to have this success in the first nine games? It certainly starts with the play of quarterback Derek Anderson. One of the things I do every week is call coaches, scouts and general managers to get their opinions on their teams, but also the teams they just played and the one they are going to play next.

When I asked people about Cleveland early in the season -- especially after the Browns had been humiliated in their season opener against the Steelers -- their comments would have surprised a lot of people, because they matched some of the comments that some people had given to me at the end of the preseason, which were all very favorable toward Cleveland's offense.

The comments first centered on Kellen Winslow, who after a couple of surgeries is starting to look like the tight end everyone thought he was going to be -- a game-changing player. In fact, he has had that kind of season.

He has excellent hands. He can not be covered by a linebacker or safety, in my opinion. He has very good quickness in his feet when he makes his cuts, so he gets immediate separation from the defender.

Cleveland has done a good job of moving him around to create mismatches and keep the defenses guessing. He has been especially valuable on third down to keep drives alive, and this has been a great help to Anderson. Winslow is having a Pro Bowl campaign.

When I scouted Winslow, he was the best college tight end I ever scouted. He looked like a pro among college players with the way he moved and ran his routes. Butch Davis was criticized at the time for giving up a second-round draft choice to move up one spot to draft Winslow. I think Winslow's play has validated the trade.

The next player people talked about was Braylon Edwards. He is a big receiver who has above-average speed and good -- but not great -- hands. He will drop some balls, as he did in the Seattle game two weeks ago, but he can make a lot of big-time catches. He has made them all season, like he did Sunday against Pittsburgh.

The point people made to me about him was that he "played big." What people meant by that was he could go up for the ball and use his big body to shield the defender from the ball and make the catch, which he has done many times this year.

The next point that was made was the offensive line's improved play. This group has played well all season. In each game I have watched Cleveland, its O-linemen have played well as a unit. In order to validate that statement, you must see a "hat on a hat." This means each lineman is on a defender and there are no unblocked defenders.

The key to this group has been the addition of Joe Thomas, the left tackle who was the team's first-round draft choice (and No. 3 overall). Cleveland general manager Phil Savage had to make a tough decision: Do you take the left tackle to solidify your offensive line, or try to get the quarterback of the future? Phil Savage chose Thomas over Brady Quinn. He thought he made the right choice at the time, despite its apparent unpopularity in Cleveland at that moment, and now everyone can see his wisdom.

Interestingly, the general feeling in drafting players is you take the best player regardless of your needs. I polled teams last fall for my draft preview for The NFL Today. When I asked who was the best senior prospect, it was Thomas over Quinn almost unanimously. So Savage had a lot of support around the NFL when he made that decision.

When I studied Thomas on tape, he looked to me like he was going to be what I call a "10 year" player at his position. That means he will be a solid player, but not a perennial Pro Bowl selection. So far, he has played like that.

He is a good pass blocker because he is a good athlete who can bend his knees and shuffle his feet well. He is an average run blocker at this time due to average playing strength, but he can pull and block well against linebackers and safeties. Interestingly, most left tackles are usually only average power blockers like Thomas. I didn't think he was in the class of left tackles such as Walter Jones, Orlando Pace or Jonathan Ogden.

What Thomas has done is solidify a group and probably made it better as a group than it is as individuals. The reason is Cleveland can many times let Thomas block the defender one-on-one or with a slight chip from a back to help him out. This allows Cleveland to help out one of its other offensive linemen if it gets into a mismatch. I have found that teams with a quality left offensive tackle will almost always be a good pass-blocking line.

The next player people spoke about was Jamal Lewis. He is not the back he once was, but then again, if he were, he would still be in Baltimore. However, he does look quicker now than he has in the past few years.

What he gives Cleveland is a power runner, which comes in handy in goal-line and short-yardage situations. What can be more critical to a team's success than to convert third downs to keep drives going and scoring touchdowns? The downside of Jamal Lewis is that at this point in his career, he will miss some game time due to injuries.

The last part of the puzzle was to find a reliable starting quarterback. This was the missing link, according to the teams I talked to at the beginning of the season. Even after the Week 1 loss to Pittsburgh, which was not pretty, teams I talked to still felt Cleveland could have a very good offense if it could get a quarterback!

The Browns had wanted to give the job to Anderson, but he did not step in training camp and distinguish himself from Charlie Frye.

But when given the chance, he clearly has stepped up his game. When Cleveland traded Frye to Seattle after one game, it wasn't sure whether Anderson could do the job, but it was convinced Frye could not.

In evaluating Anderson, I see a guy with a big-time arm who can make that difficult throw on the 20-yard out. I also see a guy who is tough to sack -- despite a lack of mobility -- because he sees things fairly quickly and gets rid of the ball quickly.

He is also blessed to have playmakers in Winslow and Edwards who have continually made a number of great or clutch catches. Anderson apparently has confidence in his arm to get the ball in tight spots and confidence these two receivers will make the catch, and so far they have done that. However, as one coach told me, Anderson has caught "lightning in a bottle" this year. By that, he meant Anderson has thrown the ball into coverages he shouldn't have and gotten away with it because of Edwards and Winslow.

There is an interesting story on how the Browns acquired Anderson. He was originally drafted in Round 6 by Baltimore in 2005. He was a late-round pick because he was a guy who had a strong arm in college but was not a consistent passer. He had 79 touchdown passes at Oregon State, but had 57 interceptions and completed only 50.7 percent of his passes.

He started out as the Ravens' No. 3 quarterback. Early in the 2005 season, Baltimore was in need of creating a roster spot and waived him with the idea it was going to bring him back after he cleared waivers. Cleveland was looking for a young QB to develop, so it claimed him, basically seeing the same things in him Baltimore did. In fact, Cleveland had rated Frye ahead of him and drafted Frye in Round 3 that year.

There is more to this story. You see, Savage used to work for Mike Riley (Anderson's college coach) and at the period of time Anderson was on waivers, Savage was going to see Riley's Oregon State team play. Certainly, Cleveland had scouting reports on Anderson from the 2005 draft.

But what Savage told me was during his conversation with Riley leading up to the game, Riley had told Savage that Anderson had called him to tell him he was going to be put on waivers with the idea Baltimore wanted to bring him back. That got Savage to ask Riley more about Anderson's ability. Riley told him to claim Anderson.

Riley, who was the San Diego Chargers' head coach from 1999-2001, was convinced Anderson could play in the NFL successfully. That convinced the Browns to claim him. Sometimes it is that extra recommendation that will cause you to claim the player.

There is another part of this story, too. Savage spends a lot of time on the road to scout college players, just as some other GMs do. This has been questioned in Cleveland, but one of the advantages of being on the road and seeing college coaches and scouts each week is you talk to a lot of people, and situations like Riley tipping you off on a player who is going on waivers and giving you an extra day to think about it is a byproduct of being out there in the "trenches."

Cleveland's defense is still a work in progress, but with an explosive offense and Joshua Cribbs returning kicks, it should be in the playoff race in December.

cbs.sportsline

Well, let's just say that Charley Casserly makes a better GM than a sports writer (not saying a whole lot), but there is some good background info that I didn't know. Still not quite sure why any of that makes us a lock for the playoffs. Sorry, if anyone else is as confused as I am after reading this article, but it was about our Browns, so I thought I'd oblige.

Thanks for the read..


Nothing we dont know already.. I'm not sure of this though.. It all depends how we come out of this past game.. Tuff break it was, mentally.. But We SHOULD have learned alot about this game, and can carry that through the rest of the season.. Would be nice to get a rematch with Pitt, but seriously, Ben has our number.. BEN knows how to beat the Browns.

There still is the chance, sure.. BUT, teams like the Titans and Jags have a better Defense, and not to bad of an offense..

The Browns need to make some changes. RAC needs to step up and put some of his knowlegde to use on the Defense..

I dont think we are going to reel of 7 wins in a row.. I still think we lose 2 more game.. Can 10-6 be good enough? Never know in the NFL, any team can get hot OR cold..