Why The 2010 Cleveland Browns Are This Year's Cincinnati Bengals

    The 2010 Cleveland Browns are going into this year with optimism, and hope. The Browns won 4 in a row at the end of the last year, and the players were playing hard and ultimately had a excellent rushing attack, led by Jerome Harrison, who had a breakout game of 286 yards in that 4 game win streak.

   Sounds familiar, right? If you remember, the same thing had happened to the Bengals in 2008. They were 1-11-1. Their coach, Marvin Lewis, was on the verge of being fired.  Fortunately for Marvin, The Bengals won three games in a row, and Marvin kept his job for another year. The next season, the Bengals would go 10-6 and make the playoffs for a first time since 2005.

I know there is going to be some criticism, but I really think there is a chance for the Browns to be the surprise team of 2010 and the chance to be good for many years to come. Here are my reasons why.

1) Mike Holmgren

This man brings a sense of credibility and accountability to the front office. He is experienced, won a Super Bowl with Green Bay as the coach. He is an integral figure of the Browns being good again.

2) Eric Mangini being retained

What good news this was, because he definitely earned another season, because the players like him, and played hard for him. It definitely brings a sense of continuity to the players, fans and overall, the organization.

3) The eleven draft picks in the 2010 draft

This is also good for the 2010 season, because this years' draft is very deep and if you play your cards right in the draft, it could be very good for the Browns years to come.

4) Discipline

This was something that last year at this time that the Browns sorely needed. Now the players are disciplined because of coach Mangini's hard practices, and brought a sense of accountability through the players, as showed by the being ranked last in penalties in the 09 season.

5) Rob Ryan

I really liked Rob Ryan as our defensive-coordinator. I felt that his schemes were outstanding, the way he used man and zone coverages, the relentless pass rush as shown in the Pittsburgh game in Cleveland.

Overall, I think the Browns could and very well maybe the surprise team of 2010 but there are tons of needs to be filled, and I think the important thing for our Browns is that we draft good this year, and get good players in free agency and last but not least, showing progress in all aspects of the game.