DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2023 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 14 Bengals 31 Other Games

I have a horrible feeling about the post season that I am trying very hard to suppress.

Stroud is going to be facing an excellent defensive backfield. Plus the push up front. I believe our defense can tame him a little, it will be important to not turnover the ball, and to score frequently.

worst case scenario for our team. Don't like the idea of facing Stroud and that offense in a dome. But, what's done is done

Possibly. But, THEY might be saying the same thing.

Quite the gauntlet for the Browns

Round 1 - Stroud/Texans
Round 2 - Likely Ravens
Round 3 - Bills/Dolphins/Chiefs
SB - NFC's Best

Welcome to the playoffs baby!

Welp. You gotta beat the best in the playoffs. That’s true every year.

You’re forgetting about the stoolers. And I think that’s a mistake.

I don't think Pittsburg got much a shot to make it to the AFC Championship, but it's not impossible. They do have witchcraft on their side

To be the best you gotta beat the best.

And well, this is Cleveland. Nothing is ever easy for us, and even if it was we would make it tough.

Texans don’t stand a chance against us. Flac ‘em.

I quit being scared about mid season. We're going in there rested and as healthy as we can hope for.

Dolphins up 7-0 .. very rollercoaster game so far

7-7 now

I'm sticking with my mantra. No expectations in the post-season.

This team has pleasantly surprised me all season long. Strafed by a ridiculous number of injuries, they've just kept going. And winning.
2-game win streak, followed by a 3-game win streak, followed by a 4-game win streak. Only once this season did they suffer a losing streak, and that was only 2 games (the 2-game swing out west). That is the record of a legitimate playoff team- one that deserves to be here as much as any other.

It may seem crazy to other Dawgs, but I don't care who's up next on the schedule.
I've adopted this team's approach, based on Coach Stef's philosophy: "Go out there, and get us to 1-0."

A team that is:
decimated by injuries
overcomes those injuries
lives the 1-0 philosophy all year

earns its way to the post-season.
That team is uniquely positioned to thrive in a one-and-done atmosphere. For them, the "Second Season" should feel virtually indistinguishable from the reg season. In short: they've treated every game this season like a playoff game. Advantage: the team with more 1 & done experience.

For as long as this coaster rolls, I'm 100% down with whatever comes next. No NFL team worries me v. CLE 2023.
What a blast this season continues to be.

Bring on whatever's next. I lived through 1-31. This is so much better.

All I care about right now is the Texans. Anything else is just noise. I'm betting Stefanski has the team thinking the same way.

What you're describing is "being a Browns fan".

:-p

Perfectly described, IMO. I've run out of that scared/stressed feeling.

Bad look for the Fins fans by the way to basically have a home game crowd for Buffalo last night.

miami/philly... regular season darlings and one and done playoff teams.. they don't scare anyone. I would much rather play Miami and buffalo.

I'd rather play Miami than Houston

If I were to rank the order of possible AFC opponents in terms of who I'd WANT to play:

1. Miami
2. Pittsburgh
3. Kansas City
4. Houston
5. Buffalo
6. Baltimore

Baker hit his incentive bonus of 1 million dollars yesterday for making the playoffs.

No Tom Brady? No problem: Baker Mayfield pockets $1m bonus after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cruise to victory over the Carolina Panthers to win the NFC South

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/n...mayfield-bonus-buccaneers-nfc-south.html

I wouldn't want him back but I'm glad to see he's doing well.

All I want is for Buffalo to completely decimate the Steelers. I am constantly surrounded by them, and I am sick of them. Send them home beat both mentally and physically

Tomlin is the luckiest coach ever… I’m still trying to figure out how he backed them into the playoffs after the meltdown they had when we beat them.

You should be rooting for them to upset the Bills, same for Dolphins.

If both win, andddddd the Browns win this week, they would host the Dolphins the following week.

Look, I don't like Tomlin or the Steelers. But when you do what he's managed to do for 17 seasons it isn't luck. When you can get your team to take things one game at a time, what happened last week doesn't matter. The Browns beat the 49'ers and Ravens too and look where they're at. That's not luck.

I used to think this, but I've slowly come around to respecting Tomlin as that leader/executive type coach. I think between them filling their roster with plenty of those solid-if-unspectacular lunchpail type players and him keeping a steady hand at the helm, they're able to scrape together these winning seasons when plenty of other teams (even more talented ones) would crumble down the stretch.

I'm also excited about them doing just enough to not be able to secure that turnaround draft pick.