The Cleveland Browns are Hopeless

The new Browns mascot

After last night's terrible showing on Thursday Night Football, which the NFL needs to get rid of, I really think the Cleveland Browns are going to finish the season 0-16. I, like many other people, thought last night was their best chance to win a game. They were playing a Ravens team that had to gut out a tough win against the Steelers on Sunday. They had some guys injured, as does all teams, and Flacco and the Ravens offense has not be setting the world on fire by any means. The Browns usually stay in games too. They never really get blown out, but they can never seem to come through in the end.

Last night though, they looked abysmal. The Browns looked like the team that had a gritty, tough game 3 days before. They looked sluggish. They looked slow. They looked unprepared. They looked as bad as they have looked all season last night. They made Flacco look like a premiere NFL quarterback. The Ravens offense suddenly "got going". I don't put much stock into this offensive performance by the Ravens because the Browns make all teams look like they have elite offenses.

I totally put this loss on the terribleness that is the Cleveland Browns. They just can't do anything that resembles something good on a football field. They cannot run the ball at all. The line gets no push and they open no holes. The running backs are either running for their lives as soon as they get the ball from the QB, or they cannot break away from tacklers. They are bad. When your best receiver is Terrelle Pryor, that should alarm Browns fans. Pryor is a very good football player, but he is, by no means, a number 1 or 2 option at receiver on any other NFL team. He is more of a trick play or third option on a decent NFL team. But, other than Pryor, I cannot name one other receiver on their roster. Their tight end, Barnidge, used to be very good, at least a good fantasy option, but he has been non existent this season. The QB's aren't throwing to him, and that is a problem.

Then, we have the QB situation. I mean, how much worse can it get for this team? They have played so many QB's this year, and the problem with all these QB's, none are NFL starting caliber QB's. Last night they turned to Cody Kessler, and he wasn't even that good at USC. I mean, he was good enough to be a starter at a major power 5 university, but he should be a third string QB, at best, in the NFL. They have also started guys like Kevin Hogan, a rookie who benefited from David Shaw and Christian McCaffrey at Stanford last year, Josh McCown, who has been so mediocre in the NFL, I don't understand why he still gets chance after chance, RG3, who was great as a rookie in Washington, but he has become a shell of himself and he never learned how to properly slide, choosing to take multiple hits, and now can't stay healthy. Besides those three guys, the other names include, Charlie Whitehurst, Connor Shaw, Pat Devlin and Austin Davis. That is a TERRIBLE list of players. No team could win with guys like that starting at QB.

On the other side of the ball, the Browns defense just can't stop anyone. They're a myriad of reasons, but I think it is mostly due to spending way too much time on the field. The offense does little to nothing for them and then the defense is thrown back out there, usually in poor field position. Even with the addition of Jamie Collins, it won't matter. One good linebacker will not shore up all the problems this team has on defense. Like I already stated, they made Flacco look like a pro bowl QB last night, and he stinks.

Also, we cannot mention the Browns without talking about Johnny Manziel. He was a problem from the start. He never did the things he promised he would do, and they eventually cut him, which they needed to do, before the season started, but he had already done his damage. Manziel was also a HORRIBLE influence on their best offensive player, Josh Gordon, who went to rehab, now is out, and doesn't want to play for the Browns anymore.

This team is a mess. I think that Hue Jackson is going to be a good coach, he did a decent enough job at Oakland as the head guy, and he was a good coordinator for the Bengals, but he was put in a no win situation this year, especially when RG3 went down in the first half of the first game. This first season is a mulligan for him.

When I look at the rest of their schedule, I honestly do not see a win coming. They have 4 home game left, but they are against the Steelers, a loss, Giants, most likely a loss, Chargers, probably a loss and the Bengals, a loss. They also have to travel to Buffalo, probably a loss and at the Steelers, another loss. I just do not see a win coming from their final 6 games. Their best chance, in my opinion, is the Giants because Eli Manning is always capable of throwing a lot of picks, but the Giants defense will win that game for them. Others may say the Browns could beat the Chargers, but I think the Chargers could score 50 if they wanted. There is no way they beat the Bengals or Steelers because those teams are fighting for playoff spots, as are the Bills. This has been a rough year for the Browns and Hue Jackson, and I think it will end with an 0-16 record.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. At one point, Ty was sick of all the Browns talk. He now thinks we need to acknowledge their historic terribleness.