Cleveland Browns: Undefeated preseason provides a glimmer of hope
Preseason results aren’t important once the regular season begins, but the fact the Cleveland Browns went undefeated in August is a positive step forward.
The NFL preseason may not mean much to most teams, but the Cleveland Browns needed to get some good vibes going early after a 1-15 season. 1-19 when counting the preseason.
So even though next Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh is the first meaningful game of the year, a 4-0 preseason at least gives the locker room and the fans something positive to build upon heading into the regular season.
The Browns won on national television, found a starting quarterback and even held opponents to zero touchdowns in the final three games. Quite the action packed month.
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No one will care about the games that took place in August in about a week, but it is hard to deny the fact going winless in last year’s preseason was a bad omen to open the year. Part of the reason the team went winless was because the group was so bad, so hopefully the four wins this year point to some actual talent being on this team.
And that appears to be the case as rookies like Myles Garrett, DeShone Kizer and Jabrill Peppers had standout preseasons. The only major cause for concern is the wide receiving corps, but that will hopefully be addressed through the waiver wire in the next few days.
I’m not claiming that the Browns are going to be a playoff team because they had an undefeated preseason, as that would be foolish. It could happen, but the preseason would have nothing to do with it.
But I am claiming that this young group getting wins early helps establish the satisfaction of the feeling. Even on Thursday night when most of the starters didn’t play, they still watched the team win and got to fly home with that positive energy after a solid performance.
It is always baby steps with the Browns and getting a sense of what it feels like to win, even in the preseason, is a key step toward being successful.