The Nate Silver Experience (featuring Hue Jackson) - A Browns Dynasty

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Haden next in line to go - packs bags for Houston




The second top flight player is on his way out of town. This time, Joe Haden was traded to the Houston Texans for an undisclosed number of draft picks. "We are preparing for a major overhaul to this team and franchise," analyst Nate Silver commented at a scheduled press conference. "Converting a few of our high level players into valuable commodities like draft picks - in the long run -- will provide this organization a clearer path to success and glory. We are, figuratively speaking, on step 2 of a 485 step program which results in the Cleveland Browns hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy. We need some time to complete the process.

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Days before pre-season, Kruger third major player to go - who is next?




It was announced today that Paul Kruger was traded to the New Orleans Saints for several picks in next year's draft. The plan is clear now: Coach Hue Jackson and Cleveland ownership is stockpiling draft picks for the upcoming year. While some may see this action as potentially "tanking" the upcoming season, there may not be much difference on the onfield performance for this year in comparison to the past years when the Browns were actually trying.

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Going into the Season: What do the Browns look like?





In a word: ugly. But that's not the whole story. Let's dig in a bit further to see what the Browns actually have on both sides of the ball.
Offense:
At quarterback, the Browns will rely on Austin Davis and Josh McCown to their main men behind center. Free agent Connor Shaw provides a third arm, but the expectation is that he will be holding the clipboard more than the pigskin. At any rate, it doesn't appear that any of these three is the long term solution.
At running back, Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson Jr. form a relatively decent combo - at least in relation to the rest of this team. Any pressure they can take off of the passing game will be greatly appreciated.
At receiver, Josh Gordon is still MIA. Dwayne Bowe is aging faster than it seems possible, and Brian Hartline is marginally above average. Travis Benjamin may be the number one target by default, although TE Zach Miller was signed in free agency. And what happened to Garry Barnridge, the once promising youngster? Another casualty of "Silver-nomics" - the newly coined term to explain the calculated shipping off of any player who seemed to have marginal talent.
The offensive line has a glaring hole where Joe Thomas once was, but will try to keep its quarterbacks upright and alive for an entire 16 game season. John Greco is the best player remining here, but it remains to be seen if he will last past the trading deadline.

[nashvegasryan]

Browns Defensive Outlook - Holes Aplenty





Randy Starks and Jeremiah Ratliff are the two remaining cornerstones of a defense that is somehow both too old and underexperienced. No Joe Haden leaves a huge hole in the secondary, and this squad may be in for some rough outings. Dawan Landry, and 9th year man out of Georgia Tech, becomes the leader of the secondary, and the linebacking corps will rely on 4th year man Craig Robertson at MLB. For better or worse, players like Armonty Bryant, in his second year, will see a lot of playing time and get the opportunity to prove if they are ready for the NFL or not.

Special Teams:
Andy Lee. Travis Coons. They are both serviceable, and if they had been worth anything to any other team in the league, probably would have been traded by now.

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Browns Season Starts with a Whimper, get destroyed by Jets

Note: most of this game was super simmed

The Browns weren't expected to be Super Bowl contenders, but their start to the season was even more depressing than most would have imagined. The Browns fell to the New York Jets 34-3 in an apathetic showing that may foretell a long season.

The Jets used a balanced attack to take control of the game early, and never looked back. Without Joe Haden, Cleveland could not find an answer for Brandon Marshall, who finished the game with 9 catches for 140 yards and a score.











"Clearly, we have a lot of work to do," Head Coach Hue Jackson stated in his press conference after the game. "On both sides of the ball, we struggled. We had some guys out of position, and that can't happen."

The Browns will host the Tennessee Titans in Week 2.

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Around the league in Week 1

Aaron Rodgers throws seven touchdowns in dismantling the Bears, 56-6 to win Player of the Week

Eagles win shootout over Falcons, 44-38

Pats Beat Steelers 31-17 in marquee match-up

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Browns a bit better in Week 2, But still Fall Short

note: I simmed about half of this game

Hey, at least they were competitive! The Cleveland Browns headed into the last four minutes of their game with the Tennessee Titans within one score of taking the lead, but a late TD pass from Marcus Mariota to Delanie Walker put the game out of reach, as the Titans proved victorious, 23-10. Dexter McCluster must have some racy photos of someone in the Titans' organization, as he was given the ball 44 times in the winning effort.

Despite sloppy play on both sides of the ball, Cleveland actually led in this game at half time, and entered the fourth quarter trailing 16-10. After trading punts, Cleveland looked to their defense to get a late stop, but the Browns were unable to give QB Austin Davis the chance to pull out a victory.


















The Browns (0-2) will host the Raiders (1-1) next week.

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Browns sleepwalk to third straight loss
note: this entire game was simmed

Cleveland's ineptitude was on full display today, with a disappointing 16-7 home loss to the Oakland Raiders. Offensively, the Browns could not manage much of a push, as the Raiders jumped to an early 10-0 lead and turned the game over to their defense.

Head Coach Hue Jackson acknowledged that the team is struggling mightily, especially on the offensive side of the ball. "We have no rhythm. We can't string a couple of quality plays together. We just aren't in sync yet and we need to improve drastically."












The Browns (0-3) will travel to San Diego (1-2) next week to face the Chargers.