After the first nine weeks of the NFL season, the Cleveland Browns are 2-7 and sinking fast.
What little optimism remained after the first month of the year has long since evaporated and Browns fans are looking at another lost cause.
Since there is little left to play for, the team has begun trading off assets, including Amari Cooper and Za’Darius Smith, to prepare for the future.
The upcoming schedule doesn’t bode well for the organization which means that head coach Kevin Stefanski has to do a masterful job in motivating the troops.
According to Jonathan Peterlin and Nick Wilson of 92.3 The Fan’s Afternoon Drive, Stefanski needs to sell a winner even if he knows better.
“He’s gotta sell solutions, he’s gotta sell something that he turns around and ‘Oh, that’s what it was. It took us a little bit longer, but that’s what it was,'” said Peterlin on Wednesday’s show.
"He's got to sell solutions. This is the week you've got to win."@JPeterlin and @NickWilsonSays discuss the heightened focus on #Browns HC Kevin Stefanski moving forward pic.twitter.com/5XguBqCNJU
— 92.3 The Fan (@923TheFan) November 13, 2024
Wilson countered with the argument that if Stefanski sells a winning culture too soon, but ends the year 1-7, that will look bad.
“This is the week you’ve gotta win,” continued Peterlin, “because you’re not going to have many wins on the schedule after that.”
Cleveland is at New Orleans this weekend and the Saints are nearly as dysfunctional as the Browns with a 3-7 record.
In the following two months, the Browns will meet divisional rival Pittsburgh twice in three weeks and also play Kansas City at home in Week 15 and the Ravens in Baltimore the final week of the season.
By then, Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry will most likely be game-planning for an early 2025 draft pick and looking at crucial roster conditions.
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