Get Ready For the Longest Season In Browns History (Literally)
Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
With the help of an additional pre-season game in the Pro Football Hall of Fame game against the New York Jets, along with the newly added 17th regular-season game, the Cleveland Browns are looking at their longest season in franchise history. In terms of days played, it adds up to a whopping 158.
Should this be a worry for the team due to the possibilities of more injuries? Will it help them build a little more chemistry thanks to the length of the whole season? Or will it end up being just another benign formality?
The first issue that comes to mind with an extra-long season is always injuries, and for good reason. Ever since the inception of the pre-season, injuries to players during these unimportant games has always been a concern.
But it gives fans something to watch, right? Well, yes, but any NFL fan knows that pre-season games do not really live up to the hype of a regular-season game. The additional game that the Browns must play in, the Pro Football Hall of Fame game, tends to have more average viewers than a normal pre-season game, with 5.7 million compared to just 1.7 million. However, these numbers pale in comparison to the average viewership of a regular-season game, which rakes in 16.7 million viewers.
These games – let’s call them “bonus games” to be charitable – do provide some real value. They give bench players, practice squad players, and rookies a chance to get on the field. This allow some of these new and younger guys to show what they can do, which sometimes provides amazing moments for the fans to witness as well. Look no further than the awesome tale of Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi.
During Week 1 of the NFL pre-season against the then Washington Commanders, Sheehy-Guiseppi, an unknown wide receiver at the time, turned on the jets during a Washington punt to return the ball 86 yards for a Browns touchdown to seal the victory. What makes this moment so special was that Sheehy-Guiseppi was homeless in Miami a week prior.
The 22 starters who decide to play in at least one of the four-pre-season games will get a chance to warm up before their regular season opener on Sept. 11, which – unless none of them get hurt – is always a good thing.
Some players who could use this warm up and get familiar with the play calls are newcomers like DE Za’Darius Smith, WR Elijah Moore, DT Dalvin Thomlinson, and WR Marquise Goodwin, as well as some of the rookies like DT Siaki Ika and WR Cedrick Tillman.
DeShaun Watson could also use a pre-season game or two to get more familiar with the team, as he only played six games for 1,102 yards, seven touchdowns, and five interceptions last year, amounting for a QBR of just 38.3. Last pre-season, Watson did not play well at all in the few possessions he took, so hopefully this pre-season he can play a few more snaps to be rightfully prepared for this upcoming season.
Along with the new guys getting acclimated to the NFL standard of football, and the vets getting warmed up for another year, this long season gives both time to meld and grow some chemistry with one another.
Myles Garrett gets some help finally after the Jadeveon Clownery experiment blew up in the Browns’ face last year, this help being the aforementioned Smith, who if the two can build some good chemistry together, could be a nightmare pass rushing duo for AFC North quarterbacks. Along with Garrett and Smith, new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz can use this long season to help the defense in areas it failed in last year, mainly defensive line issues and secondary miscommunications.
Other notable players who could use this time to build better connections are Watson and his new group of pass catchers. Amari Cooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones and David Njoku were all top pass catchers last year for Watson, but they could all still use some more time together considering Watson’s 11-game suspension last year. That mixed with the newly acquired pass catchers, being Moore, Goodwin, Tillman and tight end Jordan Akins, a former teammate of Watson, it could be seen as a positive to have this long season to tighten up these connections.
So, does it really matter starting a week early, playing in the Hall of Fame game, and playing only a week more? The truth is, we won’t really be able to find out until the season is over. Injuries are always going to be an issue, whether the season is 10 days or 158 days, and viewership during those pre-season games really doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.
Having the ability to build a little more chemistry with teammates, allowing for new schemes to be added to both the offense and defense, and letting rookies shine in the earlier pre-season games and throughout the regular season all seem to be great pros that outweigh the cons of having the longest season in Browns history.
Up Next