CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Considering most seasons in Cleveland are considered lost or over before November, the Browns’ 5-3 start has fans feeling good about finally ending the longest playoff drought in the NFL.
And if the post season were to begin this weekend, they would.
Executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry summed up his feelings on the first half of the season in a Zoom video conference with reporters Wednesday afternoon.
“The way I would describe our feeling organizationally is that we are feeling encouraged but incomplete,” Berry said. “Certainly happy with the progress that we have built upon since last year, but really… we still have a lot of work to do.”
The Browns are positioned to post just their third winning campaign since returning to the NFL in 1999.
Berry praised the work first-year head coach Kevin Stefanski and his coaching staff have done in what has been a difficult year as they navigate playing through the COVID-19 pandemic and challenges it hs presented.
“I think the staff has been fantastic,” Berry said. “I could not be more pleased with what Kevin, our coordinators, our position coaches and our QCs have done with the team and getting the players ready on a weekly basis.”
Stefanski already has the Browns a win away from matching last year’s win total, but their sights are set a little higher.
The Browns haven’t finished above .500 since 2007 and they’ve not made the playoffs since the 2002 campaign.
The second half schedule definitely appears favorable for a playoff run with the Texans (1-6) and Eagles (3-4-1) at home followed by trips to Jacksonville (1-6) and Tennessee (5-2), then back home for the Ravens (5-2), back-to-back trips to MetLife Stadium to take on the New York Giants (1-7) and Jets (0-8) before returning home for the Steelers (7-0) in Week 17.
“I think 5-3 is nice, but I do not think that anyone in our organizations views it necessarily like an accomplishment, just because the season is incomplete,” Berry said. “It is not like we set out a goal to say, ‘Hey, we are going to be 5-3 in eight games.’ We want to try and compete and win every game.”
Although the Browns are two games above .500 halfway through the season, many point to blowout loses at Baltimore and Pittsburgh – 38-6 and 38-7 respectively – as evidence they’re not on the same level or able to compete with the Ravens and Steelers within the AFC North.
“I think it still is very much incomplete. We obviously did not play well against either of those opponents during the first two months of the year,” Berry said. “That all being said, we are looking for improvement over the second half of the season. We are fortunate enough that we get both of those opponents again, and that is something that we will look at in broader strokes once we get to the offseason.”
This year the NFL expanded the playoff field, adding a seventh team to each conference.
Entering Week 9, the Browns are that seventh team in the AFC and they would face the current No. 2 seed and defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
“I am not naive to the fact that really a playoff appearance for any franchise is special because each season really is sacred and the chance to compete and ultimately get in the tournament,” Berry said. “That all being said, our focus is really on attacking our opponents one week at a time and taking care of the little things on a weekly basis because if we are able to successfully accomplish that, the big things will take care of themselves.”
With the Browns in the hunt, fans felt let down that Berry didn’t pull the trigger on a trade or two before Tuesday’s deadline.
Berry admitted they came close to making a deal or two but there was much to weigh, and talks fizzled.
“For us, we always want to compete and we always want to make sure that we give ourselves a chance to get into the tournament, so to speak,” Berry said. “Part of the general manager’s job is to have a bit of a foot in the present and a bit of a foot into the future, as well. Sometimes balancing those perspectives can be challenges, but at the same time, I like how we are positioned.
“I like what the team has done during the first eight weeks of the season, and I think that we have a lot more to do and potentially accomplish over these next eight weeks.”
