Browns’ 2008 Opponents Announced

The official 2008 schedule for the Browns will not be released until the spring, but Cleveland’s opponents have been announced.  Most of the out of conference opponents hail from the AFC South and the NFC East which, on paper, would make it seem like the Browns are in for a much tougher schedule.  At home, the Browns play the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys, and the New York Giants.  Cleveland hits the road to take on the Ravens, Bengals, and Steelers (obviously), but also the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Washington Redskins.

Of course, at this point it would be impossible to assume what kind of the season the Browns will be in for with this schedule.  When the 2007 schedule was released, I can distinctly remember considering teams like the San Francisco 49ers, Ravens, or New York Jets to be potentially difficult match-ups.  Shows what I know.  But more importantly, it proves that one can never assume any team to be just as good as it was the year before.  The positive turnarounds and disastrous implosions of teams are more abundant in the NFL than in any other league, making many teams prediction-proof from year to year, usually proving only the most outlandish prognosticators (like your drunk buddy who “just has a feeling” that your 3-13 team is going to win nine games) to be right.

So before anyone starts pointing to signs of the apocalypse for the 2008 Browns, let’s just take a deep breath and not let our imaginations get carried away.  At least until Derek Anderson gets traded and Brady Quinn tears his ACL in the preseason.