I didn’t see this yet so here goes. If it exists elsewhere go ahead and delete. Wanted to do this as a poll but don’t see how.

What’s you record prediction?
10-7 (this might be a very high parity year in the AFC meaning more teams closer to the mean)

Do we make the playoffs?
Yes

What seed?
7

How far do we go?
Division Round

I kinda love that literally no one has the browns higher than a wildcard loser. Bring it.

The hopeful prediction is the Super Bowl, of course. However, after 2 consecutive losing seasons and 18 of the same 22 starters from last year, I'm not sure there's a 4-5 game improvement there to make the playoffs.

8-9 (this is providing we have no significant injuries to key personnel)
JMHO, I think Watson will eventually get up to speed but most of his stats will be generated the same way they were in Houston in 2020 when the team was forced to pass all the time because they were always behind on the scoreboard thus negating the Chubb effect.

Do we make the playoffs?
No
What seed?
No seed - 4th place finish in AFC North

How far do we go?
The Browns will still be without a first-round pick in 2024 — the final year they won't have their own first-round pick as part of the Deshaun Watson trade with the Texans. Their fourth-round pick was also part of that deal, and they also sent their sixth-round pick to the Falcons in the deal that acquired LB Deion Jones during the 2022 season.

Tough sledding for a new HC out of the gate.

Literally no one has the Browns higher than a wildcard loser with most predicting a 4th place finish and no playoff berth. Until I see different on the field, I'll go with the experts.

Doing this with my heart and not my head...

11-6

Do we make the playoffs?
Yes

What seed?
4

How far do we go?
Super Bowl WIN!!!!!

I agree for the most part. I see 8-10 wins, 4th place and missing the playoffs. Too many good teams in the AFC and we are in the toughest division in football. Everything has to break just right for us to do more than what I predicted and how often has that happened over the years? JMO

9 & 8.

Playoffs? I don't think so but we shall see.

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/20...n-on-2023-their-season-of-reckoning.html

Cincinnati - LOSS
at Pittsburgh - LOSS
Tennessee - WIN
Baltimore - LOSS
San Francisco - LOSS
at Indianapolis - WIN
at Seattle - LOSS
Arizona - WIN
at Baltimore - LOSS
Pittsburgh - LOSS
at Denver - LOSS
at LA Rams - WIN
Jacksonville - LOSS
Chicago - WIN
at Houston - WIN
NY Jets - LOSS
at Cincinnati - LOSS

6-11 record ... but I think the Pittsburgh/Jacksonville home games can go either way

Sadly year in and year out we see people on this board bash the national media saying they have no idea what they're talking about. That they just hate or hold some kind of bias against the Browns. That they don't follow and know this team the way a dedicated fan base does. And almost every year the national experts are closer to being right than most fans on this board. So there's that.

I'm torn between 9-8 and 10-7. I'm going with 10-7.

The playoffs? At 10-7 the Browns could back into them but that's more of a prayer than a prediction.

They will be seeded at either 6th or 7th in the AFC.

I don't think they make it out of the wildcard round.

That's as optimistic as I can get and even that took drinking some Kool Aid. Even though I'm hoping for more.

8-9 or 9-8 .... with no playoffs.

We should be much better with Watson having a full off-season, and the defensive upgrades ..... but I do not trust Stefanski. We'll see.

It will be slow going the first 4 games or so.

Imo, Watson doesn't need to play lights out all season. If the D can keep us in games going into the 4th quarter consistently, we'll have a shot in any of those games. Ward can't afford another concussion obviously, and JOK needs to bring something special. An attacking D and man coverage in the secondary can either go very wrong or very right.

We need no worse than 4-2 in the division.

If all the above goes well, and with an above-average amount of luck, we have a reasonable chance at 10-7 at best.

If not: 7-10 at best.

Mix in Pickett faltering and Burrows missing a game here or there, things may look slightly better. In this case, Wildcard may not be completely out of the question.

As goes the D, so goes the 2023 Browns.

in terms of the playoffs, I like:

1. Jacksonville
2. Buffalo
3. Kansas City
4. Cincinnati
5. LA Chargers
6. Pittsburgh
7. NY Jets

I hope they pound the other team into oblivion.
and uhh, do it without drawing any flags.

17-0 regular season



Then we finish our perfect season by staying undefeated and winning the Siperbowl



Now hush up and let me keep dreaming.

I like the following:
AFC
1. Jacksonville
2. Buffalo
3. LA Chargers
4. Baltimore
5. Kansas City
6. Cincinnati
7. NY Jets/Miami/Tennessee/Pittsburgh - to be decided the final week of the season

NFC
1. Philadelphia
2. Detroit
3. San Francisco
4. New Orleans or Atlanta
5. Dallas
6. Minnesota
7. NY Giants/Seattle/Atlanta or New Orleans - to be decided the final week of season

NFC I would say:

1. San Francisco
2. Philadelphia
3. Detroit
4. New Orleans
5. Dallas
6. Seattle
7. Minnesota

Head Coach has never yet had the offense ready for the start of a year, in any year since he became the HC of the Browns.

You can Only win this game with your offense, your D can't win it. And that is how the NFL rules appear to want it.

The Browns O, is either prepared, which they don't look to be,
or they will be the reason this game is a loss, and about all of the losses all year.

double post

11-6, 3rd seed, Super Bowl parade in February.

Man a lot of people here thinking this team will stink. I don't see it. They won 7 games with a back up QB and a horrible defense. I think they win at least 10 games. The key will be division wins.

j/c:

Not sure of the record, but I'm going with we win the AFC North and go to the playoffs. After that, anything can happen.
Of course, this all hinges on Watson (and I'm bullish on him and Stefanski's ability to customize a playbook for him), but we also have a legit roster from top to bottom and I'm excited to see this defensive line and it's depth/rotation.

The AFC is going to eat itself up, and as much as people are talking about needing such a high win total to make the playoffs, I'm not sure that is the case, but we'll see. Obviously, that won't matter if we win the North, but if we don't, I think tiebreakers in the AFC will become extremely important. The Browns play 50% of their divisional games within the first month of play so, we'll get a good sense of where we stand in October. We also play the Titans which might have an impact on those tie breaker implications I mentioned. This is all before our bye week. Yikes!

Part of me wants to downgrade the Bengals quite a bit. I think their defense lost a lot in the secondary and their OL is wildly overrated. With an unknown Burrow recovery, Higgins possibly leaving in 2024 and being a distraction, plus I just hate their fickle and uneducated fan base, I'm giving them third.....even after a couple good years. Obviously, this is a bit biased while (poorly) attempting to be realistic.

Browns
Ravens
Bengals
Steelers

Chances of this AFC North order happening.....not great. Don't @ me when this all goes wrong.

Oh if you’re wrong we’re gonna come at ya hard with the @. We’ll be atting you all off-season.

I have no doubt.

That sounds like a great dream, but I am pretty sure to dream that well I would have to be sleeping so deep I would probably pee the bed due to not being able to wake up.

Gonna be a fun ride, let’s get at it, beat the Kitties around. Football is back.

https://twitter.com/OldTakesExposed


Realistic me, this has the feel of 9-8 season. No playoffs. Heads roll.

Glass half-full me says 10-7. 3-3 in the division, 7-4 in non-divisional games, which appear to have some layup wins. Browns land 7th wild card seed due to tiebreaks and get bounced by the #2 seed in the Wild Card round. Haslam reluctantly brings Stefanski back for his 5th year on his contract which is in line with both Berry and DePodesta's contracts.

Hope I'm wrong and the Browns finally live up to their talent level and expectations.

E. 4th St. was littered with Bengals fans tonight.

I agree with lamp......except for the SB part. I think we get off to a slow start but finish very strong.

All of this comes down to Deshaun. The Recievers are there. The Tight End is there, the Oline is there, The Running Back is there... the best version of the Stefanski defense is there. Myles and Za'darius should terrorize defenses. Think the other piece is if they can stay healthy. The Bye this year is in an unfortunate spot. That said the majority of the divisional games get cleared out early which might be helpful...

Looking at the schedule, there isn't a team here that I don't think the Browns can't beat. Every game is winnable.

Predicting wins is always such a crap shoot because so much can change during a season. Many teams go through full transformations by the end of the season. Can't really predict who wins what but I do think they go about 11-6, 10-7.

I also think they break the mold and they win this Sunday. The North is going to look rough All the teams are poised to do well. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire division ends up making it to the playoffs. or at least 3 out of 4.

That's just how I did it

Imma gonna choose to be optimistic - even if Browns Syndrome is trying to prevent me from doing that - If DW is even 80-85% of the player Browns Fans on this board said he was, we can go 10-7.

Schwartz and the D give me enormous confidence - I just watched his full presser and there's not one thing I don't or didn't love about what and how he answered questions.

Playoffs and such - depend on injuries on our team and the other teams in the AFC North.

Me too. I think a bunch of people are under-selling the talent on this team, but I get it. The Browns have been loaded with talent plenty of times and failed miserably. The difference this year is Jim Schwartz and a much improved defense.

While playing in the AFC North means a tough ticket to the playoffs, we can get it done.

11-6 or 12-5. 4-2 in the North. A playoff game in Cleveland. A trip to the AFC title game, and hopefully not another heartbreak.

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOoooooooo!

Agreed. One of the biggest things is the Browns not shooting themselves in the foot and winning those “should’ve/could’ve games. Off the top of my head, we “should’ve” won…what, like 4 games last year. Examples the Jets game and the couple missed FGs.

If they can cut those games down to 1 maybe 2 that will go a long way to our chances.

To me it comes down to what version of the OL we get all season. If the starters stay healthy and play like they have shown they are capable at their best, playoffs feel like the floor. That's a somewhat big if, though. Watson is a factor, too. But if the line is dominant, it'll make it easier for DW to be good as well.

good point. We need Teller and Conklin to be good (and Wills to not be awful)

AFC

Kansas City
Jacksonville
Cincinnati
Buffalo
LA Chargers
Cleveland
Miami

NFC

Philadelphia
San Francisco
Detroit
New Orleans
Dallas
Seattle
Green Bay

Super Bowl

Philly over KC

Anyone want to edit thier predictions?

This D is LEGIT!

Revised Prediction:

16-1. Browns lose final game of year as they choose to rest their starters before the playoffs!

well I'm 0-1

And probably happier than anything

happy is an understatement

SSSHHHHH don't wake me up.

7-10. Revised again.

no Chubb and a bottom of the barrel QB? this will be a nightmare (continued)

OK who woke me up damn it.

1-16

It's one game. Though I agree it has a chance to spiral downward.

already is

Even if we somehow have a successful season, it will be bittersweet without Nick. This hurts to the core.

Personally, I have no other reasons to watch any games. He was the last enjoyable part for me, and like Joe Thomas, we've completely wasted his career. The fact that Joe still got a gold jacket DESPITE playing here is simply a further testament to just how great he truly was.

the season is already a failure. it started with the FIRST snap last night and effectively ended by midnight

Probably should invoke the 24hr rule, but I'm seriously asking myself if I'm in that same boat.

What would be your definition of successful at this juncture?

unless Watson drastically improves, playoffs are out of the question. Not to mention trying to ever beat Mahomes, Allen, Dolphins offense, etc ... that's a tall task for a team with such a disjointed offense

Hmmm, spent the last 9 months getting blasted on this forum about Stefanski. How's that great play calling and QB Guru Stefanski's offense running 2 weeks into the 2023 season now?

So now you have to moon us?

This is a weird take, IMO. Watson played like trash, and there were open receivers out there (announcers called out at least 4 off the top of my head). Playcalling was pretty far down the list of issues, IMO (I'm not trying to argue that he's some sort of genius). Overall, it looked to me like execution was lacking.

KS isn't the QB coach. To my knowledge, he's never been considered a QB whisperer or anything like that. Now (again, IMO) if Baker can put up points vs the Eagles and continues to win in TB, then you're probably on to something.

No but you were rude, crude and just plain unpleasant towards the Stefanski questioners because of the opinion that Stefanski was a poor coach and his declining record over the last 2-years proved it. Now, with a revamped team and a top 5 Elite QB (LOL), he's led an offense through the first 2 games that's worse than we have even witnessed ove the last 3-years. Truthfully, even if Watson should get up to speed (highly unlikely in a Stefanski offense), Stefanski will find a way to screw it up - Bank on it.

I humbly apologize for mooning you or anyone else. We, the fans, got exactly what we wished for, a Stefanski led offense.

If you can name a team we played with a D like the eagles you might be on to something as well.

Pretending it's Stefanksi and not the QB seems to be a popular theme right now. It's not attractive.

Lighten up, Francis. First, it was a joke. Second, if you think I was rude and crude towards you, you need thicker skin. I'll just put you on ignore so I'm not tempted to risk your feelings again. Have a nice day.

I'm not pretending nor am I giving Watson a pass. The OC (ooops HC), is calling the plays and needs to control the player. That didn't happen and it was evident on the field and the sidelines. On the other side of the ball, a second year QB (who also played bad) kept his cool enough to help get his team a victory allowing only 2 sacks from the faulted Browns defense.

I mean, a second year QB1 playing behind a suspect offensive line and playing against what some claim is one of the best defenses in football only allowed himself to be sacked twice. On the other hand, a 6th year Elite QB playing behind one of the best OL's in the NFL was sacked 6 times by a defense that surrendered 30 points and a QB Rating of 111.3 to a 2nd year player just a week earlier. Unfortunately, much like the 1/3/2022 game against PIT when Mayfield was sacked 9 times, Watson's 6 sacks in 2023 is just a harsh reminder of how Stefanski will keep calling the same plays with the same disastrous results no matter how many times his QB gets thumped. DEJUVU! Oh, just an FYI, Watson has been sacked 9 times in 2 games behind the best OL in football. PRICELESS!

You can't control a players mind. You can't control the fact that according to you, "one of the best OL's in the NFL" can't protect the QB. But then the HC can't make that same QB stop holding onto the ball which seemed like forever either. The coaching staff in Houston couldn't do any of that at the end of watson's time as their starter either. In both his situation in Houston as well as his time here there is one commonality and it isn't Stefanski.

While all you say may be true, Stefanski hasn't shown any growth at all either. Discounting Stefanski (the HC) for his continued faults isn't right either.

Our so called top line got EXPOSED- not a single lineman was good/excellent- our center and both tackles got SMOKED. We brought in a passing QB, married him to a less than average pass blocking line- result, bad game for line and QB. Without Chubb our playoff push got real TIGHT. D played good, but TWO TDs given to Steelers caused the defeat. Sample size of TWO----on to next game. SKI better get his big boy pants on- cuz he could be looking for a job at end of this year.

Or sooner. One or two more games like we just watched and calls for Schwartz to take over are gonna get real loud.

I really hate to say this, but how each side of the ball comes out vs the Titans is going to say a bunch about the coaching/leadership on those sides of the ball.

Yet if the players had actually executed the plays it would be seen much differently.

Triple revision prediction:

16-1. Browns lose final game of year as they choose to rest their starters before the playoffs!

They have already lost 1 ... that would give them 2 losses.

That would suck.

15-2!

I guess I really did put that Steelers game behind me.

Jake Trotter
@Jake_Trotter
·
8m
Odds to win AFC North, per ESPN FPI
1. Ravens: 40.9%
2. Browns 35.2%
3. Steelers 15.5%
4. Bengals 8.3%
#Browns playoff odds: 70.8%

Jake Trotter
@Jake_Trotter
·
8m
#Browns efficiency ranks
Offense: 23rd
Defense: 1st
Special teams: 3rd

Going back and reading some of these comments from last week....

I'll start getting excited if we avoid getting little-brothered again by Ravens.

The defense looks like a new unit and as of yesterday the O looks like a new unit. As of right now the mind set of this team doesn't look like a team who will get little-brothered.

that's how I feel too. At minimum we should at least be in games

Surprised our special teams are ranked so high after that abysmal punt return game last week.

I think we've had some nice punts, and the FG units have been good too .. the return game isn't great

Maybe those bad plays get watered down by a huge sample size. The NFL average is right around 4 punts per team per game -- we've forced 24 in three games.

Yep. I'm not saying it's a must win, but we don't want to be half way thru the division schedule with a losing record.

#Browns week 4 power rankings:

ESPN: 9th
B/R: 9th
NFL: 9th
USA Today: 8th
The Athletic: 13th
CBS Sports: 12th

I’ll say it… the next 2 games tell us if we’re real or pretend. And it’s about consistency. We don’t have to win both but we need to take 1 and look legit in both. If we get blown out in one or both, we’re simply not real enough at present to go all the way and chances of becoming consistent later in the season are slim. If we lose both by less than 7, that bodes better to me than winning one and getting blown out in the other. I’m looking for consistent results. Either the “anomaly games” are the ones we don’t fall apart or the ones we do. Apart from remaining division games, the rest of the schedule is shaping up to be pretty easy. These next 2 games are cold hard sober reality. But they’re at home. This is a test we need to pass in order to really believe.

I really want to go into the 9ers game 3-1.

And I'll add again...stack the rosters. The Browns are more talented than the Ravens. By a large margin. Just like the Steelers. Over the last several years we've done a good job of starting to split with the Ravens and Steelers. It's time to just expect to beat them and do it.

The coaches have the team grounded. Schwartz isn't going to let the defense act like they've done anything. Myles talked about it in his post game presser. Have to do it every week. I'm marking the Steeler game as a fluke. Go out and beat Baltimore at home.

Win. Games.

Now.

What worries me is that teams will copy the steelers model of just creating massive chaos and disruption and watch us fall apart. It’s the running from the grizzly principle: They don’t have to play great, they just have to make us play worse. Our main guys are rhythm and momentum players, if you blow them up, they struggle to get back on the horse. The whole key to beating us is never letting us get momentum or establish a rhythm. The Steelers are better at this than anyone historically. So, the test is, can we settle ourselves down and pull ourselves back together when (inevitably) we get punched in the mouth in these two upcoming games. If it starts slipping away, can we claw back. If we can’t, we won’t go far in the long run.

edit: Holy misread the Tweet, Batman!

Last year is stuck in your head.

If you look again, it's week 4 and week 10.

Welp, according to the ghosts of Browns football past, no matter how good we are we’ll go 4-2 in that stretch. Because: Browns. So we’ll need to be 6-4. That’ll put us at 10-6 and fighting for wildcard going into the last game. I predicted 10-7 and last wildcard seed so…

If we win the next 2 or win 1 and narrowly lose 1 and don’t have any significant injuries, this is a whole different season and all that goes out the window.

according to the ghosts of Browns football past, we could be 9-1 when we hit that stretch and still miss the playoffs.

Hilarious! Man, that require multiple viewings to pick up all the references

Baltimore, SF, Indy, SEA is a pretty tough stretch .. then the Baltimore/Pittsburgh back to back is tough. After that, not tough at all

well, Conklin and Chubb are pretty significant.


If Conklin was healthy, something tells me Jones would be our starting LT.

Just try to get one win in the Baltimore home game this week.