We are in the "dead zone" of football. This is the time everybody gets time off. Coaches get to spend time with the family. The begining of Camp is not far away. Not much is happening now.

Last night NFL Network had to fill some time slots so they pulled out a show on the "greatest seasons."

You know the 1972 Dolphins. The 1985 Bears and other great seasons.

It made me wonder. When you look at those great teams and then actually look inside those great seasons. There were key big games that were barely won. It is not like they steam rolled every team they played.

Although that 85 Bear team was something else.

Could the Browns have one of those incredible seasons in 2021?

IMO Yes.

You don't expect a team to go from being bad or mediocre to great. Usually these great seasons were prefaced by a season that they came really close before.

Another thing is obvious. Those teams knew they were great. They were very confident teams.

Some things have to fall your way to have that magical season. You have to stay relatively healthy. And maybe pull a rabbit out of the hat on a game or two.

I have been following the Browns closely since 1960 when my family moved back to Cleveland. I was twelve.

I have stated that this is the best team personnel wise that I have seen.

Obviously, they still have to play and prove themselves to be great.

But if they catch a couple breaks I do believe this team has that potential to do something special.

Going into 2021 they are ranked very high on offense and defense. So there is balance. Also there is great talent on both sides of the ball.

We also have a head coach who IMO the team believes in.

All the ingrediants are there. Of course things could derail and all go up in smoke.

There is nothing that could be better than the Browns having that magical season.

I have my fingers crossed.

The Browns had an undefeated untied season in their history which the NFL ignores as a slap to the league.

" I have stated this is the best team personel wise I have seen".
Yes,

Now, moving on, many ways to go, soo many under apprecieated seasons from teams all over history.

Bengal fan, tells me, this year is really excited about their wr's, whatever, I told them, the Browns roster is so that I can't think of a group that compares, but one of the top ones that does, remember the (must have been 87-88 bengals, or maybe one of those 49er teams the won that beat the cowboys 30-20, in week 17? flip I don't remember, maybe it was the cowboys that beat the 49ers 30-20 that game,
The Jimmy Johnson assembled cowboys of 1991 ish, when they still had Alvin Harper that year were stacked top to bottom,

Remember the Jim Kelly Bills? Whew, that, that was comparable.

But, !!! I meant to talk about the great season,
the under appreciated season,
the Highly! Under appreciated even in how they stack up against the 2021 Browns, of the year
2001 Cleveland Browns!
Darrin Hambrick added late in the year at linebacker.
James Jackson 3rd year player as a backup Rb. The Ever always under apprecieated William Green. (Remove his first 6 rookie games and he was a different, devastating Rb but many never go over that 1st impression.)

Tim Couch and Kelly Holcombe, Dennis Northcutt! Dennis Northcutt! the wonderful season of Dennis Northcutt!
Kevin Johnson. Kevin Johnson!
Andre Davis! Quincy Morgan!
Who were the tight ends on that group. Was it Edwards and Santiago, or am I off by years? ( A highly under appreciated team) Was Jamir Miller on that defense? Orpheous Roye?
Gerrard freaking Warren? Gerrard the difference maker Warren? One hit changed the outcome of the Jaguars game iirc.

I Might be 1 year off on the year.

The 1987 Browns were the pre-season favorites to win the Super Bowl.

That was a good team. Only automatic Otto and those Browns teams were truly great as far as the Browns.

I am interested in the present.

I could go position by position but for the most part that has been done and we pretty much know the starters.

Until this season ends all we can do is speculate and that is not very accurate.

All I will say is the potential is there to have that truly great season.

Last year was the greatest year BY FAR in my lifetime. That’s not saying much, but still.

The thought of going even further is almost unthinkable

I am worried about the health of our DE's, the experience at DT, and our LB depth. Other than that this team is freaking STACKED!! If the DE's can stay healthy and our DT's ball out, we can be lethal. In Joe woods system I think the LB position is fine, only if the DL does their job.

I only care about the Browns. 80, 87,89 and 20.

This morning on GMFB they listed the Browns number one as the most complete team. They are not the only show or analyist to do so.

Health is always a concern but not one to dwell on. We do have depth.

I think we are fine at linebacker.

DT is the only position group that there remains questions.

We have players but as yet the internal ranking at DT is a question.

If we only consider the present and then the most complete team and competition for the Browns.

I'm going to look at what I consider a 2-3 year process leading up to the current upcoming year.
1. The Buccaneers are the most complete stacked team not named the Browns from what others say and they do have a lot of stars.

2. The Bills Personally I believe the team that gets the most out of the role players they have is the Bills team, and I mean performance without individual stars, Even in 2019 I noticed their remarkable scoring defense, which seems to be continuing.

Then, in the present, 2 more teams to consider, if we follow the evolution of the processes of individual teams, and remove last year, so teams that were on the doorstep year + another year in a row, removing 2020,
3. The Titans and
4. The Seahawks
The Titans and the Seahawks were on the doorstep, and made some noise in the 2019 playoffs, and had whatever type years in 2020.
So those situations often bode well for making noise again.
(The other AFC North teams can pound sand)

That 85 bears team was not in a bunch of close games in the playoffs, much the opposite iirc. The 4-6 zone was a new concept? in 85'?

The 2021 Browns are not invincible on defense or offense. The Browns on defense, take advantage of the youth and inexperience of the outside conrners.
Same thing with the linebackers save 2.

Take advantage of the Browns general inability to hold off the power running game, especially if ran with a hurry up offense.
In general the Browns defense will face an obstacle from a hurry up offense.

The Browns offense is not impossible to defend either.
It's strength is it's depth more than individuals, play conventional defense and wait for mistakes.

Even so, Go Browns!

I won't go in to the defense because it is very young and new, so much remains to be seen.

As for the offense, every aspect of the offense is solid and fairly deep.

I will touch on the defense because past performance of players has meaning.

Yes, this will be a new defense for the Browns. Not from a schme point. IMO learning a new defense is easier than learning an offense. By the end of Camp the defense should know what their doing.

We may have 8/9 new starters. However, most of the starting players have been starters before.

JOK and Newsome will play. But they will have specific roles and responsibilities.

The other new guys like JJ3, Hill, Walker, Clowney, Billings, Jackson, Takk.

These guys should fit in quickly.

Overall the defense is faster. The units improved.

Key parts of the defense better. Better pass rush. Better secondary play. Better and faster linebacker play.

So, I expect at least a top ten defense or more.

But what is most important is this defense will give the offense more opportunities.

That means we will score more and give up less points.

I have high expectations.