On A Quest For National Respect, the Browns Must Beat the Titans
· Yahoo Sports
Cleveland Browns fans have seen the script too many times. As soon as their favorite football team starts looking like it's finally turning the proverbial corner out of the doldrums if mediocrity and into football relevance, they lose to some feeble team, leaving everyone questioning why they ever believed in the Browns in the first place.
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That's whats at stake on Sunday in Nashville, where Cleveland will face a 1-5 Tennessee Titans team as a rare road favorite. It's a game that most NFL fans won't care much to watch on TV, but will have plenty to say about it if the Browns find a way to lose.
That's because, while they comfortably sit at 4-2 on the season and in first place in the AFC North, many around the NFL are waiting for the other shoe to drop with this particular Browns team. Nobody saw this start to the season coming. Cleveland was supposed to be a bottom-feeding team, fighting for the No. 1 pick. Not some division-leading playoff contender.
On one hand, it's been a remarkable start, one that first year head coach Todd Monken deserves a lot of credit for everything he's being able to squeeze out of this young roster that has some notable limitations. On the other hand though, plenty of people are waiting to pounce and call it fool's gold the second they slip up.
There's a saying in sports that good teams beat the teams that they're supposed to beat. That couldn't be more true for the Browns this weekend.
If the Browns want to be taken seriously and retain some of the new found respect that has come their way, they need to beat a flailing Titans team that doesn't have much direction at the moment.
Browns Turn Their Attention to the Titans | Chance to Get to 5-2 | When do you take them Serious?The Cleveland Browns have a chance to get to 5-2 on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans in a game that, if they want to be taken seriously in the NFL, they n...There are natural points in the season where teams are measured against the opponent they're playing. Last weel, for example, was one for the Browns.
Last week's divisional showdown with the Baltimore Ravens was one of them, providing Cleveland and opportunity to see how they stack up with a team with Super Bowl aspirations, ven if Baltimore didn't have their two-time MVP Lamar Jackson at quarterback.
They checked that box, but even if they had come up short in what turned out to be a dog fight, 13-10 game, at least externally it would have looked like a respectable effort from a team that nobody thought was going to win anyway.
This week the roles are reversed. The Browns, at least record wise, are a 'good team' thats expected to win. And yet, plenty of people aren't convinced they will.
That's what Sunday is about. In a fight for national relevance and respect Cleveland has to beat the Titans, or else the 'same old Browns' narratives that have haunted the team for nearly three decades will be the only thing anyone is saying about this team.