Sampling of preseason NFL Power Rankings

[Royale with Cheese]

I hate the Browns.  I hope they get all hyped up like 2019 and they finish 7-9.

[eball]

38 minutes ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

 

It was me.....

 

😁

 

I was about to say...it seems not many share your sentiment that the Browns are now ahead of the Bills.

 

 

2 hours ago, msw2112 said:

That said Mahomes>>>Mayfield and Allen>>>Mayfield

 

Edited for emphasis.  The gap between Pat/Josh and Baker is greater than some realize, and that's why those teams will continue to stay ahead of the Browns.

 

 

Edited May 6, 2021 by eball

[foreboding]

56 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

Not used to this.  Fifteen years of being a sleeper in the 16 to 25 range is my comfort zone.

I know. I've had this exact thought.

 

Preseason #3 consensus?

 

Feels great, and down here in Florida, anyone sporting bills anything are sure to give one another a little extra gusto on the high five or foot of extra height above the occasional sandy-beach table jump. 

1 hour ago, Logic said:

The thing for me with the Browns is this: they have an elite running game, but ranked 23rd in passing yards per game last season. Maybe that was just due to OBJ being on the shelf most of the year. However, until they show they can hang with the NFL's passing elite (which, amazingly, for the first time in my life, includes Buffalo), I'm not buying much stock in them.

They have a great running game and are likely to have a much improved defense. Defense and running game are great and will likely win you 10+ games. It's hard for me to buy them going far in the playoffs, though, until they show they can pass the ball. It's a passing league.

I dunno. We have the inevitable obj vs Mayfield feud to look forward too!

[Inigo Montoya]

6 minutes ago, eball said:

 

I was about to say...it seems not many share your sentiment that the Browns are now ahead of the Bills.

 

 

One of those rankings has the Browns ahead, and many of those who don't have the Bills and Browns within just a spot or two of each other in the rankings, which I think is perfectly reasonable.  TBD blew up like I said the Jets were better than the Bills.  The Browns finished last season as the 5th or 6th best team, we finished as the 3rd or 4th best team.  The possibility that the Browns may have caught up to the Bills is a perfectly reasonable opinion that reasonable people could reasonably differ on.  

 

We'll all see in a few months.  I hope I'm wrong.

 

🍻

[MJS]

I see you found the one source that has the Browns ahead of the Bills.

[eball]

12 minutes ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

One of those rankings has the Browns ahead, and many of those who don't have the Bills and Browns within just a spot or two of each other in the rankings, which I think is perfectly reasonable.  TBD blew up like I said the Jets were better than the Bills.  The Browns finished last season as the 5th or 6th best team, we finished as the 3rd or 4th best team.  The possibility that the Browns may have caught up to the Bills is a perfectly reasonable opinion that reasonable people could reasonably differ on.  

 

We'll all see in a few months.  I hope I'm wrong.

 

🍻

 

The Browns' roster is very talented; I haven't heard anyone argue otherwise.  It takes more than a collection of talent to become a great team, however.  It's also tough when the most important player on that roster -- the QB -- is a pretty large step below the two guys he's looking up at.

 

Trust me, I hope you're wrong also.

 

[billsfan89]

48 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

I hate the Browns.  I hope they get all hyped up like 2019 and they finish 7-9.

The Browns are legit good, they had Oline issues in 2019 and a bad coach. The coach was replaced by at the very least a decent head coach and they fixed their oline. In 2020 they had issues on defense and they improved their defense overall in free agency and in the draft. They also possibly get back OBJ on offense which should only help.

 

I think they win at least 11 games this year and are a threat in the playoffs. Their issue in my opinion is mainly how good is Baker? The team is stacked, great Oline, great running backs, good pass catchers and a defense that wasn’t tragic in 2020 got improved.

 

They will go as far as Baker takes them which could be an early exit or a deep playoff run

[Inigo Montoya]

17 minutes ago, MJS said:

I see you found the one source that has the Browns ahead of the Bills.

 

I did!  😉

 

And one that had the Browns in 4th, right behind us.

 

And one that had the Browns in 5th, two spots behind us. 

 

And four out of the seven rankings didn't have the Browns in the top five at all.

 

I though it was a pretty comprehensive and fair sampling of the major sport sites. 

 

🍻

 

Edited May 6, 2021 by Inigo Montoya

[fergie's ire]

9 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

The Browns are legit good,

 

I think the Browns are good, but I am not completely convinced.  They are very similar to us last year...playoff birth with the benefit of a very easy schedule.  Now they are entering the "prove it" year.  We did...but I am still waiting to see with Cleveland.

[Alphadawg7]

2 hours ago, NewEra said:

I was looking at the ravens roster and I’m not impressed.  They made some solid additions @ WR (Bateman, watkins, tylan wallace) but losing Ngakoue and Judon and replacing them with backups McPhee and Bowser is massive imo.  I don’t see Oweh making a big enough impact to get their D back to where they need it.  All of that could change if Roman makes the necessary adjustments to open up their offensive playbook and Lamar can be efficient throwing the ball. I’ll take the Brown over the ravens but subject to change if Lamar can take his passing game to another level 

fair assessment.  Although, I would still take both Rams and Packers over Browns if Rodgers stays with GB.  

[NewEra]

14 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

fair assessment.  Although, I would still take both Rams and Packers over Browns if Rodgers stays with GB.  

Yeah I would take the packers for sure, due to Rodgers.

 

Rams are such a wild card.  If they can get Akers going and Stafford meshes with the system and WRs, they’ll be scary 💯.  Winning the SB is within their grasp for sure 

 

all three of the top contenders in the NFC can run and pass.  Not to mention the niners, who I believe will be right back into contention getting their injured back in the fold. 
 

let’s hope we can get the run game back on track to keep opposing defenses honest 

[JESSEFEFFER]

There was that bad loss to the Jets last year in week 16.  That was a head scratcher.

[Royale with Cheese]

40 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

The Browns are legit good, they had Oline issues in 2019 and a bad coach. The coach was replaced by at the very least a decent head coach and they fixed their oline. In 2020 they had issues on defense and they improved their defense overall in free agency and in the draft. They also possibly get back OBJ on offense which should only help.

 

I think they win at least 11 games this year and are a threat in the playoffs. Their issue in my opinion is mainly how good is Baker? The team is stacked, great Oline, great running backs, good pass catchers and a defense that wasn’t tragic in 2020 got improved.

 

They will go as far as Baker takes them which could be an early exit or a deep playoff run

I hope Baker crashes but I will miss the Progressive commercials.  I do think they’re funny.

[Matt_In_NH]

4 hours ago, gjv001 said:

On paper I think the Browns have surpassed the Bills. But there's a reason they play the games. GO Bills!!!

Not sure I agree with that.  The Browns are good for sure.  But I would give the nod to the better QB and right now that is Allen.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

4 hours ago, P Riv said:

Look at last year's rankings and how far off they were by season's end, for the most part.  Injuries will dictate a lot of how the season will go, just depends on who and when they go down.  I think we have solid depth and can weather the storm, but many of the rest can't say that.  

 

These early rankings every year are silly. They just pick the prior year’s successful teams and mostly pencil them into the top 5.

 

For example, it wouldn’t surprise me that the Bills actually get a lot better this year (josh only sort of figured it out last year), and a team like the Bucs (with a lot of aging players and coming off a super bowl) takes a big dive. It also wouldn’t surprise me that a rising team like the chargers takes the next step and enters that top-5.

[billsfan89]

1 hour ago, fergie's ire said:

 

I think the Browns are good, but I am not completely convinced.  They are very similar to us last year...playoff birth with the benefit of a very easy schedule.  Now they are entering the "prove it" year.  We did...but I am still waiting to see with Cleveland.

I think the Browns addressed defense properly and return a high caliber offense that gets back OBJ from injury. Talent wise they have all the pieces in place it is just on Baker to see how far they go. I would say they have elite offensive talent supporting Baker on top of an above average defense. It is on the QB now.

[NewEra]

1 hour ago, JESSEFEFFER said:

There was that bad loss to the Jets last year in week 16.  That was a head scratcher.

The Browns lost their entire WR room due to covid. They started JaMarcus Bradley and Marvin Hall at WR.  The guys that backed them up at WR were RBs and TEs.  The vaunted Browns run game was held to 2.6 ypc because the Jets stacked 11 men in the box and bracketed Austin Hooper, meanwhile Mayfield threw 53 passes.  When you don’t have one NFL WR suited up, it makes the opposing DCs life much easier 

[Rigotz]

Highest expectations in.... 25 years?

Pretty exciting times!

[TBBills]

Some people are going to be disappointed in the Browns...

 

[FLFan]

6 hours ago, gjv001 said:

On paper I think the Browns have surpassed the Bills. But there's a reason they play the games. GO Bills!!!

People have been talking about the talent level of the Browns for years now.  Every year is their year.  You will find posters here and national pundits who said the same last year:  “the Browns have better talent than the Bills”. Blah, blah, yada, yada., etc.  I will believe it when I see it.  

Edited May 6, 2021 by FLFan