BL Predicts: Game 16 Browns vs Steelers

Not much analysis needed this week, as the Browns close out yet another losing season.

- Browns are on the road and have nothing to play for other than perhaps a better position in the draft.

- Steelers are fighting for yet another playoff birth.

- Browns are quite banged up with numerous key players either out or at risk of missing this weeks game.


BL Predicts:

Steelers      31
Browns      17


The BL are 10-5 year to date predicting the winner of Browns games.

BL Predicts: Week 15 vs Jets

Yet another losing season for the Cleveland Browns is winding up.  All we are left to reflect on is that the Browns keep losing year after year after year.

It torture to think about this but last year the Kansas City Chiefs won 1 game and they are now one of the best teams in the AFC.  The Philadelphia Eagles last year won 4 games and now they're in the playoff hunt.  Our Browns won 5 games last year and they'll be lucky to tie that total this year.

Our best chance to get back to the magical 5 win total is Sunday against the Jets.   Hard game to predict because the Jets aren't all that much better than Cleveland.  But the Browns are on the road, banged up, and coming off a series of extremely deflating defeats.

I could see Josh Gordon having a huge game and it's not that far fetched to imagine Geno Smith giving Cleveland a few intercepts.   But winning on the road is hard, especially without Jordan Cameron and possibly without Joe Haden.

I'm going with the home team this week.

BL Predicts:

Jets 23
Browns 16


The BL are 9-5 year to date predicting the winner of Browns games.

BL Predicts: Game 14 vs 'da Bears

For 58 minutes last week, the Brown Log was the only prognosticator on earth that had correctly foreseen a Browns victory over the New England Patriots.   Then fate, game fixing referees, and God knows what else, intervened, allowing New England to walk off the field of play with a victory they did not earn.  The Brown Log have consistently out predicted the experts this year and if we'd have nailed that one, it would have been sweet.   In any case, our 9-4 record predicting Browns games this year still beat all of the experts.

This week our Browns return home to take on the Chicago Bears, who find themselves in a fight for the playoffs.

Emotionally, the Bears have an edge, no question about it.   The Browns are coming off a series of extremely deflating losses topped off by the unimaginable defeat last week.

On the plus side for Cleveland:

- This is a home game and will be played in brutally cold weather which will tighten up players on both sides of the ball.

- The Bears have a QB controversy.  Jay Cutler will be under center for Chicago Sunday.  If he's 100% he's an able NFL QB but both fans and perhaps his own teammates lack confidence in Cutler.

- Josh Gordon is emerging as a superstar wideout of the kind not seen since the days of Jerry Rice.   Jason Campbell and Brandon Weeden both know that Gordon is the kind of player who can make a QB look like a genius.   Gordon's presence is bound to open up opportunity for the rest of the Brown's O too as the Bears would be fools not to double Gordon all day long.

- Aging veteran running back Willis McGahee is out Sunday.   McGahee has been a real trooper this year.  He shows up every Sunday, works hard, runs hard and does not fumble but his knees just can't do what his courage and mind want to.  McGahee has been a net liability all year.   Perhaps Chris Obannaya or Fozzy Whittaker can step up now once given a chance.

Once again this week all of the pundits are going with 'da Bears.  The Brown Log respectfully disagree

BL Predicts

Browns 20
Bears    17

The BL are 9-4 year to date predicting Browns games.

BL Predicts: Game 13 vs the cheating New England Patriots

The Brown Log are now 9-3 year to date in predicting the outcome of Browns games.   If you stack us up against pundits who are actually paid for a living to cover the Browns you'll find that we are blowing the "experts" away.

Click on this link to see the record of the Plain Dealers staff.   Note that the best record amongst the "pros" is a paltry 7-5.

Week and week out, the so called experts let emotion overrule logic when it comes to our beloved Browns.  Football is an emotional game but more often than not, skills beat out emotion on the field of play.  This week however look for emotion to finally rise up and favor our Browns.  That and another important factor external to the field of play which is the heads up that Houston's Antonio Smith gave the NFL last weekend about the Patriots renewed cheating.

Everybody this week is predicting the Pats to win but there is an interesting bit of information that has leaked into the public's eye.    On December 1st at halftime the disgustingly bad Houston Texans were handling the Pats, leading by a score of 17-7.   In the second half, the Pats miraculously recovered and barely eked out a win, 34-31.   After the game the Texans Antonio Smith accused the Pats of cheating.
If you look at the Patriots team, their talent levels are not in line with their 9-3 record and in the past it is a known fact that the Patriots have employed sophisticated cheating schemes.   If you read what Antonio Smith had to say in the link, it is probable that history is repeating itself and the Patroits have morphed their cheating into new areas such as using electronic surveillance to listen in on opposing coaches.   The technology to do so exists, but perhaps the scumbag Bill Belichick has invested in duplicating what the NSA does to all of us.

I admire that our head coach Chud looks for every edge, week in and week out.   This week, I truly expect Chud to do everything in his power to avoid that the Patriots steal info from the Browns.  Without this edge, expect the Pats to be surprised by the Browns more than once.

Moving onto the players that will have to execute come game time, very thankfully Jason Campbell is starting for the Browns this week, and he has looked good in practice.   Campbell will likely go vertical a bit more than he has this year to break tendency and surprise the Pats.  With Josh Gordon emerging as the premier wideout in the NFL, and the Pats trying to handle Gordon by jamming him at the line of scrimmage but not double teaming him, I expect the Browns to break several big gains.  It is worth noting that the Pats have the worst run defense in the NFL and even the Browns with their pathetic rushing attack should be able to help Campbell by gaining a few yards on the ground.

On defense, our Browns will have their hands full with Tom Brady but look for Brady to struggle a bit if the Patriots are unable to decode information that they steal from the Browns.  The Browns defense will also be significantly better this week.   Speaking of experts who miss important factors, last week, none of the experts, either before or after the Browns game against Jacksonville, understood the negative impact that starting Darius Eubanks had on the Browns chances of winning that game.  Football is a game of 11 players vs 11 players, and if even one of those 11 players is not of NFL quality, it's a MAJOR disadvantage.   I actually isolated on Eubanks every play he was on the field vs the Jags and he consistently made bad reads that put him out of position to make plays against the run.   The handful of times Eubanks put himself in a position to make a play against the run, tiny Eubanks was manhandled by blockers in every case except one where he did make a tackle after a 3 yard gain.  Against the pass he wasn't much better.   When Eubanks was on the field vs Jacksonville, the Jags were able to run and pass the ball with little trouble because they were playing 11 players vs what effectively was only 10 NFL players for the Browns.   This week it looks like Craig Robertson is going to play instead of Eubanks and that is a huge plus for the Browns.

Finally and importantly, football is an emotional game and after Joe Haden's outburst last week and the embarrassing loss to Jacksonville, I expect the Browns to be highly motivated vs New England.


BL Predicts the Browns will pull off an upset

Browns    24
Patriots     16

The BL are 9-3 year to date in predicting the winner of Browns games.

BL Predicts - Game 12 vs Jacksonville

This week's game is the hardest to predict this season because on paper it seems the Browns should win this home game but a few key factors give me pause.

Some factors to consider this week:

* Browns QB Brandon Weeden is 0-4 as a starter.   His counterpart, Chad Henne, is a slightly below average NFL passer.   Being a bit less than mediocre gives Henne a major advantage compared to the disastrous Brandon Weeden.   Sitting on the bench may indeed have given Weeden a few ideas on what he might do different.  For example, look for Weeden to heavily favor Josh Gordon today.   If Weeden simply flings it in Gordon's direction early and often it would be a major step in the right direction. However, expect Jacksonville to be ready.   If the Jaguars scheme to keep the ball away from Gordon it may foil Weeden's one chance at success by creating a turnover or two.   Chad Henne on the other hand will most certainly play more consistently than Weeden.

* The Browns will be playing Darius Eubacks at one of the ILB positions.   In the preseason, Joe Banner cut a number of veteran players in favor of lesser paid rookie free agents.   Those players released included promising 2nd year linebacker James Michael Johnson, who now makes a living for the 9-2 Kansas City Chiefs.   Another was a solid linebacker, LJ Fort.   The Browns saved cash by cutting more experienced players but they gambled that depth wouldn't be needed at LB at any point during the season.  The NFL season is long and here we are in the stretch run and the lack depth at linebacker is suddenly a potential game deciding issue.   Count on the fact that Jacksonville will isolate receivers against Eubanks and test him.  Eubanks was playing safety at Georgia Southern 12 months ago.  A few key plays should decide Sunday's game and I would be surprised if Eubanks is not on the wrong end of more than one big play.

* The home field should not be ignored but I'm guessing that many frustrated Browns fans are going to sit this game out, thus damping down the home field advantage for Cleveland.

* Weather will be cold and nasty.   Bad weather often affects QB's more than anybody and the fact is that Chad Henne has more experience playing in the cold than our own Brandon Weeden.

* Finally I'm sure that Chud would very much like to impress on his bosses that he can lead the Browns to a win at home against a team that the Browns "should" beat.   Look for Chud to try a few trick plays to surprise the Jags.   Chud's ability to get big plays this season by expert use of the element of surprise helped the Browns beat the Vikings and Bills.  I've got a feeling that Jacksonville will be on the lookout and for the first time this season, the tactic will not work.

Tough call but I see the Browns losing a difficult battle against Jacksonville:

BL Predicts:

Jacksonville    17
Browns           10

The BL are 8-3 year to date predicting the winner of Browns games.