Browns-Bengals: The Battle of Oh-No!

Browns Backers,   

Ohio likes to refer to itself as "The Heart Of It All," mainly because of its demographics and influence in politics and hearty Midwestern values. The upcoming Browns-Bengals game will turn the 71th renewal of state bragging rights into the Battle of Oh-no and might induce heart failure!

Forgive me for not writing sooner, but after watching Cleveland's latest flop in South Philly on Monday night can you blame me! This season can't end soon enough! 

If there was ONE good thing that came out the Philly debacle is that I'm in my first ever FFL championship, and if I didn't care about appearance I would gladly kiss Andy Reid's fat head along with DB Brandon McDonald's hand.

I was ahead 21 points with my rival, "Kev," starting QB Donovan McNabb, Kev needed 21 points to beat me and advance to the title game, so just try and imagine me pacing and being a nervous wreck while watching your home-town team getting smashed. 

ESPN projected McNabb at 14 points(249 yds, 2 TD's 2 INTs), so with my calculations McNabb needed to throw for around 550 yards or 325 yds and two TD's or three TD's and against the Browns defense anything is possible. 

When Brandon McDonald made that sweet one-handed INT in the end zone, I screamed like a maniac at work shouting "Run, Run, Run!" and after I was let go I flew into a virtual "Eagle's Nest" at the Browns Backers bar, Peter's Pub, which was overrun by Philly college students cheering on their Birds and with only five brave Backers, we were not only outnumbered in the Pub but on the scoreboard.  

When Reid finally pulled McNabb for backup Kevin Kolb, let's just say I was very relieved when I came back home and saw that McNabb came up short with 17 points and I edged out "Georgia Bulldogs" 215-213.  

Besides beating Kev, the only other good thing that I took from the game was that Braylon actually caught some balls, but Braylon being Braylon dropped the ball again when he inferred that he was mainly being booed because he went to Michigan. 

I suggest the Braylon call up former Cleveland Brown and SCUM alum, FB Leroy Hoard, to ask for help in pulling his foot from his mouth, because personally I don't care WHAT school you went to as long as you play and produce you're good in the eyes of Browns fans.

Consider that our best player is from Cryami, we have a hometown WR who defected to Penn State, our former starting Pro Bowl QB went to freaking Oregon State, and our glamour boy signal caller went to Notre Dame, Braylon just needs to either get neutered or buy a muzzle and just shut up and play! 

Bear with me and humor me fro a second. Let's say that the Browns drafted Troy Smith instead of Brady Quinn; now, while you may or may not like Quinn because he went to ND, there is a high expectation that comes along with being QB at such a storied program, and I think that is the main reason for the anti-Quinn backlash, because whether you like ND or hate them, you will always have an opinion.  

I think that if Smith was a Cleveland Brown, he would bear a greater burden and MORE pressure because he is from the tough East Side hood of Glenville, played at Ohio State, went 3-0 vs Michigan, won a national title as a freshman and won the Heisman his senior year. 

Add to the fact that he would have distractions at every turn and constant media pressure to win, I think being from Cleveland and having a successful career in Columbus would bring MORE pressure than Braylon could ever understand.  

Moving on to the Bengals, this game is for nothing more than pride and bragging rights and with the Bengals upsetting the Redskins last week, they are either due for a letdown or can rally together and kick some dirt on Cleveland's grave and spoil what's left of it (and hopefully get Crennel fired right after the game!).

But I expect Cedric Benson to carry a load in this game, and considering Cleveland's porous defense don't be surprised to see a lot of the first round bust from Texas. 

T.J. and Ocho Nono could be a factor if Fitzpatrick has time to throw because other than McDonald the Browns' secondary doesn't intimidate QB's. For the Browns, they must establish the passing game first(feel free to chuckle!) in order to establish Jamal on the ground effectively and maybe Dorsey could attack down-field with some play-action.

Look for the Browns' defense to come up big with some sacks and a couple of INT's and maybe there will be some good times at the lakefront.

Prediction: Browns 21 Bengals 10  

Barking for a FFL Title,
Dawgfather