First off, I expect a Browns loss, and it could be a blowout, too.
However, most of the analyses I've heard of read are sloppy, shallow, and lazy.
As usual, the analysts go straight to the season-long statistics without adding weight to the most recent games.
Nor do they separate Johnny Manziel from McCown and Davis. They also ignore Duke Johnson utterly and completely.
The Seahawks are a great team with zero weaknesses, and they're white-hot right now. They'll be at home. Well I get all that.
But let me begin here with San Fransisco. They had shown signs of life in their 3 most recent games, but still pretty much sucked.
But we get too extreme when we say that one team is a ten and another is a zero.
We do that to avoid critical thinking and a potential headache. Seahawks exciting. Niners boring.
It's much easier this way to completely ignore the Browns dominant performance in that game. It wasn't that the Browns are any good at all (I mean look at the stats from their season!) No, it had to be because the Niners are the worst team in the history of football. Therefore, nothing that happened there has any microscopic measure of relevance.
Manziel's 2015 stats approximate McCown's, therefore the switch from the old vet to the kid is irrelevant.
What Manziel did to Pittsburgh? Well, what was the final score? Case closed!
Duke who?
The Browns can't stop the run...well except for Pittsburgh and San Fran. But the Bengals ran over them so we can ignore the other two and predict a romp by the third and fourth string backs.
Oh for sure! They're just as good as those Cincinnati guys, and Seattle's offensive line is superior to Cincinnati's, and Seattle's wide receivers are just as good (I'm being sarcastic).
The Browns won't have the same defensive game plan against Seattle that they used against Cincinnatti.
The Bengals have a lethal set of receivers, and the Browns couldn't prioritize the run. They were in nickels and dimes all day and trying to stop Green, Brown, etc.
Seattle has Baldwin, Locket etc. and they're scary, but Seattle is a run-first team.
If the Browns were more of a threat, they might change their m.o., but with their two top backs out for good, they'll need to get the other guys meaningful reps heading toward the playoffs. And then, of course, the Browns have been atrocious vs the run, so it just makes sense. Carroll must feel confident that Wilson and his defense can take over if it doesn't work out.
I honestly can't predict whether or not the Seahawks will have much success on the ground, but I would be stoopid to assume it after the Browns stuffed Williams and the Niners.
Stopping Seattle's run undermines play-action and sets up pressure situations. I know that the Browns won't sack Wilson nine times, and that Wilson will still make plays, but none of the other analysts have bothered to take it this far. It's much easier to assume that Seattle will hum along running and passing at will, scoring four or five leisurely touchdowns in a boring game.
Manziel is short of receivers now. What about Duke Johnson, the safety valve who can play the slot? Vs nobody at all or Seattle's third or fourth cornerback?
They acknowledge Barnidge (yawn) and the fact that Johnny will rely heavily on him, but that doesn't matter, does it?
The Seahawks are a top team vs the run, and only give up 3.6 ypc.
And again: The Browns will seek to match Benjamin up against that 6'2" cornerback on crossing routes as often as possible.
And what about the quarterback? Was it all about the Niners just being bad that made the whole Browns team look like superstars, or could Manziel have influenced that?
Eyerolls. Snorts.
And Crowell. Called by some scouts the best runner in his draft class. Could he manage 3.6 yards per carry? Could he manage the average Seattle's defense surrenders to opposing backs? Might he be somewhere in the middle?
Well, like I said, I don't expect the Browns to win. I'm just aggravated because the analyses I've read have been presumptuous, shallow, dismissive, and ignorant.
YOU STAND CORRECTED.
More of the same goes with alleged analysis of Ray Farmer. Memorex Morons have heard and repeated the negative mantra long enough that their brains have shut down.
Manziel was picked twenty third overall and has already emerged as a very good (if not elite) NFL quarterback without much support. This should go on the plus side of Ray's ledger, but that would require something called critical thinking.
"Yeah bud wud aboud Gilburd?" Gilbert started and appeared to have begun to emerge when almost immediately he got knocked out.
Microscopic sample size, I know. But this was a second year CORNERBACK why don't you comprehend this?
That's the first round. You're calling Erving and Shelton busts as ROOKIES? Really? Seriously?
Todd McShea has the Browns drafting Paxton. Well I wouldn't mind that. Draft him and let him sit behind Manziel for a season!
What? Really? Why? You can trade one or the other later. What's the big deal? Who keeps telling you you have to start a number two pick as a rookie? No you don't!
Another guy says draft a wide receiver. He's only two inches shorter than Gordon, four inches shorter than Pryor, and a little slower than both!
Why? Because Ray hasn't picked a wide receiver in the first round, ergo he's overdue! Brilliant.
How depressing.
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