Climbing The Mountain

It’s a rough road ahead for the Cleveland Browns as they prepare to take the field for the 2009 season.

If competing in a traditionally tough division isn’t enough challenge for a team in transition, the AFC North also happens to feature the defending Superbowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

Yep, the Browns get to face the Steelers not once, but twice as they navigate the schedule, which also has fellow division rival and defensive powerhouse Baltimore Ravens.

This leaves the Cincinnati Bengals as the only team in the division I can feel good about beating as the flowers bloom here in Northeast Ohio.

New Head Coach Eric Mangini brings a whole new attitude and approach to the Browns, but whether or not that will translate into more wins during the season remains to be seen.

The Browns track record in their division has been terrible for the last several years. Going back to 2003, the Browns are 9-27 in the AFC North, including 11 straight losses to the Steelers.

The last time the Browns beat the Steelers was Oct. 5, 2003.  The score was 33-13, in case you were wondering.

Mangini has a history with Cleveland.  He worked for the team under Bill Belichick and coaches with a similar approach in how to build a team. Looking back at his time in New York, you can draw some parallels already.

Nick Mangold, the center drafted by Mangini a few years ago in New York, was ranked the top center in the league by Sporting News Today. The first draft pick of 2009 for the Cleveland Browns was center Alex Mack.

The Jets were ninth in the league last year in rushing. They were ranked 20th in 2006, Mangini’s first year. So Mangini clearly has some experience at building a line that creates holes for his runners.

Having a successful running game is a key to winning the AFC North.  The Steelers have this identity as a tough team that can run the ball and stop the run. With Mack, Mangini looks to strengthen the line to attack a defense like Pittsburgh’s and beat them at their own game.

Mangini also looks prepared to run the ball more with the acquisitions of Robert Royal and the trading of Kellen Winslow.  Injuries limited Winslow’s ability to block, and given the Browns only gained 1,605 yards on the ground last year, 26th in the league, it’s clear there’s room for improvement.

The Steelers and Ravens both have reputations as teams with fearsome defenses. Under former Head Coach Romeo Crennel, those defenses stopped the Browns constantly. Even during the Browns’ 10-6 year in 2007, they only managed a 3-3 record in the division.

Mangini has seen the tape and isn’t stupid. So he obviously has a lot of work to do to shore up the leaking ship that was the Brown’s defense last year, especially if he wants to be competitive in the division.

The Browns trade with the Jets this year brought in lineman Kenyon Coleman and safety Abram Elam.  It’s safe to say Mangini is familiar with the Jets roster, and bringing in known quantities is one way of producing immediate results.

It gets worse, because even if you stop the running game, the Steelers still have Ben Roethlisberger as their starting quarterback and the Ravens now have Joe Flacco, a rookie sensation last year who led his team to the AFC Championship game, only to lose to the Steelers.

Mangini needs to find a way to stop both those quarterbacks from having highlight reel performances against his team this year. The problems in that area haven’t just been coaching as player shortcomings can not be ignored.

Watching any Browns game last year showed an offensive line clearly overmatched in addition to blown assignments by the safeties and cornerbacks. Further evidence can be obtained by looking at how many quarterbacks took snaps during the regular season.

(It was four, with the offensive line allowing 24 sacks, in case you turned off the TV in disgust.)

Mangini has begun to address the offensive line, but the receivers still are in flux, with the latest blow coming May 18 when Joshua Cribbs reportedly threatened to boycott the team’s mini-camp unless he gets a new contract.

The lowly Bengals are the only team the Browns have played competitively over the last half-decade, and that’s nothing to brag about. Comparing the two teams, the Bengals are the only team that kept the Browns from ranking dead last in total offense in 2008, and both teams are tied with the St. Louis Rams for the fewest touchdowns scored last year with 20.

With foes like Pittsburgh and Baltimore in the Browns division, it will be very difficult to finish better than third. Like the Browns, the Bengals are in desperate need of a new direction. Unlike the Browns, the Bengals still have the same front office and head coach.

Advantage Browns.

Pittsburgh is defending a Superbowl title and Baltimore didn’t make the Superbowl because they lost to Pittsburgh.

Advantage Division.

The Browns drafted a big center, one of USC’s linebackers (Kaluka Maiava) and looks on paper to be a much tougher defense going into the season.

Advantage Browns.

Roethlisburger is in the prime of his career and appears to be learning from past mistakes. Flacco was brilliant in his rookie season and you can’t assume he will have a sophomore slump.

Meanwhile, Mangini is predicting a quarterback competition going into training camp. Brady Quinn has very little NFL experience with only three starts under his belt and Derek Anderson did not live up to his potential last year, looking progressively clueless and lonely until his injury prematurely ended his season.

Advantage Division.

Nothing less than a 12-4 record is going to win this division, and you can’t count on the Wildcardto get into the playoffs. A 6-10 record is what I expect out of the Browns this year with an 8-8 clearly representing a team playing above expectations.

When you break down the schedule, an argument can be made that a weaker schedule could benefit the team like it did in 2007 when the 10-6 record hid the glaring holes in the Brown’s defense that became all too evident in 2008.

The AFC Northis simply too tough a division for the Browns to coast through and hope for a playoff berth.  So unless the Browns can become this year’s Miami Dolphins, it’ll be a year of rebuilding and evaluation with playoff hopes once again put away until 2010.

On a side note, it bothers me there are neophyte Browns fans entering grade school this year who have never witnessed their die-hard Browns fan parents celebrating a victory over the Steelers. Their fragile psyches have had to endure one crushing defeat after another, never seeing their parents express joy.

With luck, joy will return, parity will shine its light on Cleveland, and the fans will have something to look forward to on Sundays other than a through beating.