I've steered clear of all the "woe-is-me"ing regarding the supposedly brutal schedule that the Browns face this season.
Why? The Browns are good enough to win the division outright. They don't compete against a dominant division foe and thus need not rely on a wild-card berth.
And the main reason for the supposedly tough schedule -- matchups against the AFC South and NFC East -- applies equally to all four teams in our division.
So aside from those common opponents and the home-and-away round robins within the division, here is what differentiates the Browns' schedule from their competitors:
- Browns: Denver, at Buffalo.
- Steelers: San Diego, at New England
- Bengals: at New York Jets, Kansas City
- Ravens: at Miami, Oakland
Clearly, the Steelers have the toughest road in facing two more defending division champs. By contrast, Denver and Buffalo are two very beatable teams, especially the short-week home game against the Broncos.
The Ravens have the easiest non-common, non-division opponents, but of course, they're not expected to compete for the AFC North crown.
That leaves Cincy, whose game at the Jets on October 12 suddenly looms larger. The Bengals will be coming off a game in Dallas, while the Jets have the benefit of a bye. Any transitional hurdles for Brett Favre should be ironed out by then. And he's far from their only new addition: OLs Alan Faneca and Damien Woody, OLBs Calvin Pace and Vernon Gholston, FB Tony Richardson, and others.
Nope, I'm not at all worried about the Browns' schedule. By playoff time, they'll be plenty battle-tested. If they survive, they'll almost certainly start at home, either hosting a wild-card team or, in the best case, coming off a bye as one of the top two seeds.
Let the games begin.