Cleveland Browns: So this is a team I picked to go 11-5 last year. I know everyone likes to say that 2 years ago was a “fluke,†but they were Browns need a lot more of this if they want to be successful. actively good, they didn’t win bullshit games like the 2008 Colts or that sort of thing. The way they won games was with a great offensive line and a rejuvenated passing attack. Last year they had injury problems (three qb on IR!) on the line, age problems, and (I really hate analysis of this sort because it’s so common but…) they sucked at the skill positions. Jamal Lewis looks worse and worse, I’m pretty convinced he’s the third best RB on this team (after, in order, James Davis and Jerome Harrison) and they need Braylon to not be the worst WR in the NFL and they need one of their qbs to a) be named starter and b) play like a starter. Luckily Mangenius is SUCH a good head coach that he’s keeping the public (well, and the team itself) in limbo by not announcing one, I write this a week before opening day. I know the bears have been gameplanning for the packers for the entire offseason, the Browns look like they’ll start on Monday or something. What a bad coach. Regardless, their offensive line is my biggest question. Joe Thomas, Eric Steinbach (if he can stay healthy) and Hank Fraley (Alex Mack in there too?) is a great right side of the line, or at least has been. Steinbach and Fraley are aging though… At RT they have John St. Clair penciled in as starter, and as much as he could be worse, RT is a pretty important position to be ok in when you have first year starters playing QB (which is how I assume it will break down). At WR I have no idea who they’re starting or even who they SHOULD start. Edwards, Patton, Cribbs, Massaquoi, Robiskie, Furrey, etc. all seem pretty mediocre options. Honestly I think this is a team with a decent offensive line (minus RT, and if the rest of the line is good then he’d fine as he showed with the Bears) and just apparently someone shat in the apple pie. I like that they DO eat their desert after they eat their meat and potatos but really if the desert tastes like crap then you’re still in trouble. Defensively they’ve been horrible two years running. The improvement in defense last season reflected a concerted effort to do just that, they brought in Corey Williams and Shaun Rogers, who performed really well, and their super young secondary actually played average-ish (16th in the NFL) except for Brandon McDonald, who despite his five picks was ranked the dead worst staring CB in the NFL by football outsiders. Incidentally I just want to point out that the defense WAS bad last season, just they had some good games before injuries hit and they were still much better than 2 years ago. I didn’t love their offseason, too many moves that don’t seem to have hurt or helped that much, a lot of cutting of players that add depth (lennie friendman for instance) and the fact that many of their better players are aging is worrying (and Shaun Rogers can’t continue this policy of showing up to camp overweight every season. He was a probowler last year though). They lost Sean Jones, two starting o-linemen, a backup OT (to the Bears), starting CB Terry Cousin and a fucking soldier. I don’t love any of their signings and I think their coach is really bad and stupid. This may be another rough year for the Browns and I think they’ve had the talent both last year and this year to compete if they utilized their weapons effectively. Fantasy potential: Ummm…. They’ll probably throw a fair amount since the running game looks like it might be really rough. The defense wasn’t stellar last year and could easily be similar… If I trusted their coach I’d say James Davis would be a good pickup because he’s their best RB and is good value, but it is possible that Mangenius won’t actually play him. Cribbs is fucking incredible, he’s the best return man in football. Yes, I’m a bears fan. Outlook: 6-10? 7-9? It’s tough to judge when you think a team COULD be ok but will be destroyed by bad coaching Pittsburgh Steelers: Wow, rotoworld ranks their offensive line the worst in football. That seems harsh, they were 2nd in the NFL in rushing The question is: will the O-Line hold? the football last season. Oh, and they won the Supberbowl. In fairness they won the SB behind their defense, which interestingly lost 4 starters in the offseason (CB Fernando Bryant, LB Larry Foote, CB Bryant McFaddon, and S Anthony Smith). When you have the number 1 pass defense in football, losing members of the secondary might be relevant. But they picked up Kiewan Radcliff in the offseason so they’re cool. In all honesty I don’t think their defensive line is incredible, Casey Hampton is good (his last season as a steeler) and so is Aaron Smith, but RDE Brett Kiesel isn’t striking the fear of God into anyone and I don’t think they have much depth. It’s actually possible that this team is nothing but a really good LB corps (to understate it a bit) and a top 3 overall safety. It’s funny how having a top 3 overall safety makes your defense really good, I bet Danaiel Manning will turn into one of those for the Bears. He’s probably about as fast as Polamalu is, that’s all there is to being a good safety, right? I would lay good money down on this team crashing if Polamalu were to go down. There’s no reason to think he will though, and as a result it’s hard to think the Steelers’ defense will be anything other than really really good. Again. Offensively they really weren’t amazing last season, though I’ve heard that the tactic of good defense + good running game has worked once or twice in the past. I’m not 100% convinced they were the best team in football last season, and I even think they weren’t the best team in the Superbowl (the cards were probably the better team at that time, though they opted not to show up until the fourth quarter and then also opted to give up a last minute drive to a mediocre passing attack) but really it’s only fair that the best defense (and second best rushing attack) all season takes the Superbowl. It’s been a while since I think the SB champion has been as legitimate as the Steelers were last year, so that’s good, and may well bode well for their season this year as well. In preseason I watched them beat the Bills 17-0 behind a pretty bad-looking offensive line and a good-looking defense. I expect that to be the norm all over again this year, but the offense is probably bad enough where when they play other good defenses (like the Titans in week 1?) they won’t put up any points whatsoever. Fantasy Potential: All obvious, no surprises I don’t think. Mendenhall is getting drafted too high perhaps, Parker will be the starter when healthy I think. I’d be scared of their passing attack being too good, they will run and play defense. Proceed with caution on their WRs even though they are good at football. BM
