Browns Digest

NFC East First Four Games Of The Schedule Could Benefit Cleveland Browns

The NFL schedule will be released Thursday and John Clayton of ESPN 710 in Seattle is reporting teams will begin their seasons with out of conference opponents, which would mean the Cleveland Browns play the NFC East to start the year. That might be good for the Browns.

Pete Smith

With the schedule set to be released on Thursday, there's a report from John Clayton of ESPN 710 Seattle that teams will face out of conference opponents the first four weeks of the season. The reason is simple; if the NFL was forced to cut games, those would have no impact on the standings while obviously conference games fit into the playoffs calculations. For the Cleveland Browns, who are slated to face the NFC East this year, that would mean starting the year off with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins in some order.

That could prove helpful for the Browns getting off to a good start in 2020 and it comes down to the impact of COVID-19. However deep the impacts are felt beyond what has already happened, the team's that stand the most to lose are teams with new head coaches and major roster overhaul, because they are the teams that need on field practices the most.

The NFC East features three teams with new head coaches. Joe Judge is taking over a New York Giants team that is still trying to build up its talent base. Ron Rivera is taking over the Redskins, who have the makings of an intriguing defense, but the offense has a ton of question marks. And finally, Mike McCarthy is taking over the Cowboys that have talent, but much like the Browns, are trying to get more out of it.

The Browns are simply more talented than the Redskins and Giants. Being on even footing in terms of preparation could be helpful in enabling them to get a couple wins in those games, which could help the Browns catch up to more veteran teams for later in the year.

The Cowboys are the NFC version of the Browns, where they have an incredibly talented offense, questions on defense and they need all of it to perform better. McCarthy interviewed for the Browns job before taking the Cowboys job as well. But being on even footing in terms of preparation could make this game a really interesting, early season matchup.

The Philadelphia Eagles are the lone team returning their head coach in that division. They did change up some of their offensive staff, including the coordinator positions, but the offense as a whole isn't changing. They have a far more veteran roster than the Browns, so they seem to have an inherent matchup early in the year. It could be difficult to grab a win.

If the Browns are playing the NFC East the first month of the season, it means they aren't playing the Baltimore Ravens of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Relative to the rest of the AFC, they might have made the least changes to their team. The Ravens in particular are largely running the team that went 13-3 back from last year with more talent and more experience. The Steelers have made some changes, but their premier players remain the same and with a healthy Ben Roethlisberger, would be more dangerous early in the year.

The later in the season the Browns see these two teams, the more time they have to catch up in terms of reps and getting comfortable running their respective schemes on offense and defense. That could level the playing field in a game between the two teams and give the Browns a much better chance to compete and potentially win.

Winning with a first year head coach is difficult in the best of circumstances with every rep at their disposal. Now, it's unclear just how deep the impact will be due to the pandemic, but every rep lost makes the challenge that much more steep for teams like the Browns to be successful, especially early in the season.

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Pete Smith
PETE SMITH

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