Brown BLog Predicts: Week 1 vs Bengals

I am glad to see the Browns get back to a Stefanski offense. This season promises to be easier to watch than last year's disaster. That said, other than the home field advantage, the Browns don't go into this game with much of anything in their favor. Burrow, Chase and the Bengals regulars played a surprising amount in the pre season with a focus on starting well. The Bengals have a new defensive coordinator, Al Golden, who went to great pains to avoid showing his cards in the preseason. If they can be a middle of the pack D, the Bengals will be Super Bowl contenders. The Browns? Some great talent added to the defense, I have no doubt they'll play well but let's be honest, the offense is weak. Losing Judkins is a big blow, Jones at LT is unproven, Isaiah Bond has a great chance to be a big time player, but not in week 1 on this team. Stefanski always schemes up a big play or two but I think the Bengals will be ready for that. Stefanski will do stuff like pull a guard to the right to clear out defenders reading run then throw a pass to the open left flat. Or Joe Flacco will manipulate a Free Safety out of position by looking him off. Al Golden is known for a basic scheme that relies on his athletes trusting their reads and not overreacting. I think Golden will have his guys ready for Kevin Stefanski's black magic. I think the Bengals won't score 30 against the Browns solid D, but on the other hand, the Browns won't score 20.

The Brown BLog predicts
Bengals 27
Browns 17

Brown BLog Predicts: AFC North 2025

The toughest division in the NFL promises to be exciting and competitive again in 2025.

Here are my predictions for each team:

First Place:  Baltimore Ravens  12-5

- The Ravens are the best coached and most talented team in the AFC North

- John Harbaugh has built a Growth Mindset.  Athletes that the Ravens select improve year to year at a greater rate than any other NFL team. 

- Lamar Jackson is amazing, determined and it's only a matter of time before he has a Super Bowl ring

- The Ravens defensive backfield was a weakness in 2024.  This season the addition of Jaire Alexander and Malaki Starks transform that group.

- Mike Green will help an already strong defensive line. 

Second Place:  Cincinnati Bengals 11-6

- The Bengals have Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and Chase Brown.  30 points or more is a probability every time they step on the field 

- Al Golden needs to get the Bengals defense to improve from terrible to mediocre.  A scheme that keeps things simple and Shermar Stewart flashing potential should help the Bengals keep their opponents under 24 points a game often enough to battle the Ravens for first all season long. 

Third Place:  Pittsburgh Steelers  10-7

- The Steelers have Mike Tomlin 

- The Steelers D will be as great as they always are

- Aaron Rodgers to DK Metcalf - all year long!

Last Place:  Cleveland Browns  5-12

- The NFL hung a miserable schedule on the Browns, as they continue to punish the Browns for $230,000,000 fully guaranteed.  With that tough start, the Browns are bound to play well and still start 0-6 or 1-5 and it'll be onto Dillon Gabriel, who won't be ready for prime time.

If You Build It, They Will Come

I’ve been a Browns fan long enough to carry the scars. I’ve stood in the freezing winds off Lake Erie, watched games through sleet that stung my face, and sat in the aftermath of seasons that ended not with a bang but with a blizzard. And now, with talk of a new dome stadium in Brook Park, I can’t help but think: maybe it’s finally time to take the weather out of the equation.

Here’s the truth. Playing in Cleveland in December and January isn’t football, it’s survival. The weather becomes the great equalizer, turning track stars into plodders, quarterbacks into handoff machines, and playbooks into checklists of whatever you can still run when your fingers are numb.

But imagine the Browns being the only team in the AFC North with a dome. Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Cincinnati will keep grinding it out in the cold while Cleveland plays in fast, clean conditions every single week. Our athletes could play at full throttle, our passing game wouldn’t sputter in the wind, and talent would decide the outcome.

I’ll never forget 1980. Brian Sipe was the MVP of the league and yet when it mattered most, the weather smothered him. That team should have soared, but the elements clipped their wings. Forty-plus years later, it still hurts to think about. A dome means that never happens again.

Now let me shift from the field to the stands. I’ve been lucky enough to attend games at AT&T Stadium in Dallas several times, and walking into that place is like stepping into the future of football. It’s warm when it’s freezing outside, cool when it’s blistering hot, and everywhere you look there’s something designed to make fans feel like they’re part of something bigger than a game.

You don’t go there to “endure” the game, you go there to enjoy it. That’s the difference.

Picture it: a December Sunday in Brook Park. Instead of bundling up in five layers and battling the wind, you walk into a climate-controlled palace. No frozen hot chocolates, no icy metal bleachers, no shivering while you watch the Browns’ season slip away. You just watch football and enjoy the environment.

And as a fan who’s lived through decades of heartbreak, that sounds like paradise.

Some people will say weather is part of Browns tradition. Maybe. But tradition shouldn’t mean handicapping yourself forever. A dome doesn’t erase Cleveland’s grit it enhances it. It gives us the stage to finally showcase the talent we’ve assembled without having the skies decide the score.

For the team, it’s a competitive advantage. For the fans, it’s comfort and spectacle. And for Northern Ohio, it’s a chance to finally give Browns football the setting it deserves.

If you build it, they will come. And this time, we might actually stay long enough to watch the confetti fall.