I brought up the fact that I didn't believe the NFC East was all that tough on another thread...so I thought maybe I should expound on this. Using info from Cold Hard Football Stats, the teams we play had the following Quality wins (vs teams with winning records):

Dallas 4-2 (1-1 outside of division)
NYG 1-5 (0-2 outside of division)
Washington 2-5 (0-3 outside of division)
Philadelphia 2-7 (0-3 outside of division)

So none of the NFC east had over a .500 record vs quality teams outside of their own division, and only 1 (Dallas) had a winning record against quality opponants.

Indianapolis 4-3 (1-2 outside of division)
Jacksonville 4-3 (3-0 outside of division)
Tennessee 2-4 (1-1 outside of division)
Houston 2-7 (1-2 outside of division)

Again, only Jacksonville had a winning record against quality teams outside of their own division, and only 2 (Indi/Jax) had a winning record against quality opponants.

Denver 2-5 (2-3 outside of division)
Buffalo 1-7 (1-5 outside of division)

Neither of these two teams had a winning record vs quality opponants, either overall or outside of division.

Pittsburgh 3-2 (1-1 outside of division)
Cincinnatti 2-5 (1-2 outside of division)
Baltimore 1-7 (0-4 outside of division)
Cleveland 1-3 (1-1 outside of division)

So out of our entire schedule for 2008 only 4 teams had winning records against 'quality' opponants (Dallas/Pitt/Indi/Jax) overall, and only ONE team (Jax) had a winning record against quality opponants outside of their own division.

In fact, Cleveland was one of only 4 teams on that list that had at least a .500 record against quality opponants outside of their own division. I make this point because it is so often stated that you can throw out the records for divisional games as the two teams know eachother so well.

Anyway, after looking at the 'vaunted' schedule we face, the BIG game to me will occur in Jacksonville on October 26th.

so all you are proving is that the NFC east and AFC south are the two toughest divisions in football. the fact that so many "quality games" are division games, speaks volumes about how tough it is going to be to play both divisions in a season.
Good luck with that though.

quote:

Originally posted by nrfitchett4:
so all you are proving is that the NFC east and AFC south are the two toughest divisions in football. the fact that so many "quality games" are division games, speaks volumes about how tough it is going to be to play both divisions in a season.
Good luck with that though.

Somebodies paying close attention to this site.

quote:

Originally posted by nrfitchett4:
so all you are proving is that the NFC east and AFC south are the two toughest divisions in football. the fact that so many "quality games" are division games, speaks volumes about how tough it is going to be to play both divisions in a season.
Good luck with that though.

Boy, you sure missed out on the logic, didn't you?!?!

What it means is this dipweed...the NFC East was 1-9 against quality opponants outside of their division. That means that all of their wins came against teams with LOSING RECORDS...in other words, cake walks.

The AFC South, on the other hand, was 6-5 against quality opponants outside of their division. So they actually had to beat good teams to achieve their records. They are far and away the toughest division in the NFL.

The AFC North wasn't all that great (3-8 mostly due to Baltimore going 0-4) outside of their division against quality opponants, but a good site better than the pathetic 1-9 NFC East. Chew on that one dullus fan.

I am not getting the math on this. Philly went 2-7 against quality opponents. Assuming that is 9 games, and they went 0-3 outside the division, that leaves 6 games inside the division. Impossible, no?

Houston went 2-7 and 1-2. That means they played 6 games inside the division as well.

Dallas, NYG and Wash would have played 4 divisional games, Indy, Tenn and Jax also 4 divisional games.

I stopped there. What am I missing?

you play 3 teams twice. that equals 6 division games.

you were messing up the math

as for the ones with only 4. The others prolly werent quality wins.

quote:

Originally posted by WPBDawgfan:
Anyway, after looking at the 'vaunted' schedule we face, the BIG game to me will occur in Jacksonville on October 26th.

Truer words were never spoken. That is gonna be the toughest game this year HANDS DOWN.

I'm not sure I get where this whole thread is going...the teams that the Browns will play this year beat up on bad teams--no big shock there, as that's what good teams do. Against better teams, they struggled. If my math is correct, that's exactly what the Browns did last year (1-3 against "quality" opponents).

So...even if the "quality" opponents aren't exactly the 1970s Steelers, doesn't the fact that the Browns went 1-3 against them mean that they're still tough games for the Browns?

Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by Dencyguy:
I'm not sure I get where this whole thread is going...

and here's another tangent...

The Cowgirls and the Browns had 5 common opponents last year and both teams went 4-1 against those opponents.

Dency...not saying these games won't be tough. What I AM saying is that the media, while dismissing the Browns 10 wins due to lack of a good schedule, have failed to realize that the entire NFC East was feasting off the same pond scum...and struggling against any decent opponants.

They are using this fuzzy math to justify saying that the AFC North is going to struggle all year, and that it may be a 9-7 record that wins the division.

After looking at all the records against good opponants, the truth is that the NFC East is pretty pathetic against top teams (1-9).

(DD, both Houston and Phili had 3 teams in division that finished over .500, giving them 6 games in division against 'quality' opponants. All others in those divisions had only 4 games against quality opponants as Hou/Phi were only 8-8)

Long story short, the NFC East is over-rated.

I have always sucked at math. Makes sense now.

quote:

Long story short, the NFC East is over-rated.

I feel the same way. I think we're last season's Jax.

quote:

Originally posted by Lumbergh:

quote:

Originally posted by WPBDawgfan:
Anyway, after looking at the 'vaunted' schedule we face, the BIG game to me will occur in Jacksonville on October 26th.

Truer words were never spoken. That is gonna be the toughest game this year HANDS DOWN.

If you're talking "out of division" games ...then I agree, but there are NEVER any bigger games than the 2 versus the Monongahela Mud Puppies.

Doug

quote:

Originally posted by Furnier:

If you're talking "out of division" games ...then I agree, but there are NEVER any bigger games than the 2 versus the Monongahela Mud Puppies.

Yeah those will be "big" game but not nearly as difficult to win.

For instance I'd bet CLE is a 5 pt favorite in week 2 at home vs Shitzberg, but they'll probably be a 5 pt dog @ JAX.

quote:

Originally posted by WPBDawgfan:
They are using this fuzzy math to justify saying that the AFC North is going to struggle all year, and that it may be a 9-7 record that wins the division.

Long story short, the NFC East is over-rated.

Well, kind of. I mean, one never knows, year to year, which division is going to be the dominant one. Is the NFC East overrated? Maybe, but I'd have my chest out a bit if my division had the Super Bowl winner, the #1 seed in the conference, and a team that managed to make the playoffs despite major disorder.

I also wouldn't be surprised to see 9-7 win the division. I can see the Browns and Steelers splitting, the Ravens aren't at rock bottom, and the Bengals...well, the Bengals can score a lot. Add in the aforementioned NFC East, and the AFC conference that sent three teams to the playoffs (screw you, Sorgi...it was the right thing to put you in, but it was the wrong thing for you to suck), and the AFCN could be a slug-/slogfest this season. And I don't have any problem with that; my first full season as a Browns fan was 1989-90, when the Browns won the Central at 9-6-1 and the Steelers and Oilers were the wildcards at 9-7, and all three teams went out and played at least one great playoff game.

Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by WPBDawgfan:

quote:

Originally posted by nrfitchett4:
so all you are proving is that the NFC east and AFC south are the two toughest divisions in football. the fact that so many "quality games" are division games, speaks volumes about how tough it is going to be to play both divisions in a season.
Good luck with that though.

Boy, you sure missed out on the logic, didn't you?!?!

What it means is this dipweed...the NFC East was 1-9 against quality opponants outside of their division. That means that all of their wins came against teams with LOSING RECORDS...in other words, cake walks.

The AFC South, on the other hand, was 6-5 against quality opponants outside of their division. So they actually had to beat good teams to achieve their records. They are far and away the toughest division in the NFL.

The AFC North wasn't all that great (3-8 mostly due to Baltimore going 0-4) outside of their division against quality opponants, but a good site better than the pathetic 1-9 NFC East. Chew on that one dullus fan.

well, since you put so much into this, let's look at it a little closer. Of that 1-9 record, 4 games were against NE (0-4), and 4 against GB (1-3), so the nfc east went 1-7 against two teams with a combined 29-3 record. puts it into perspective a little bit. but whatever helps the homerism.

quote:

Originally posted by WPBDawgfan:
Dency...not saying these games won't be tough. What I AM saying is that the media, while dismissing the Browns 10 wins due to lack of a good schedule, have failed to realize that the entire NFC East was feasting off the same pond scum...and struggling against any decent opponants.

They are using this fuzzy math to justify saying that the AFC North is going to struggle all year, and that it may be a 9-7 record that wins the division.

After looking at all the records against good opponants, the truth is that the NFC East is pretty pathetic against top teams (1-9).

(DD, both Houston and Phili had 3 teams in division that finished over .500, giving them 6 games in division against 'quality' opponants. All others in those divisions had only 4 games against quality opponants as Hou/Phi were only 8-8)

Long story short, the NFC East is over-rated.

just so funny how that "overrated NFC east" has managed to send 8 teams to the playoffs the last 3 seasons.

I agree Jacksonville could be a big game. It is against a good team, on the road, at a point in the season where a win or a loss can set the tone in the divisions....creating some gap for teams.

That said, week 2 against Pittsburgh, at home, national tv is the game we have to win because we finish the season in Pittsburgh.

I have a feeling we will have to win at least one of those games to win the division....and we won't win one if we lose the first one.

I also have a feeling the wildcard WON'T be out of the AFC North, so if we are to make the playioffs, we have to take the division.

Week 2 IS the season......not that we can go out a lose the rest, but I think you catch my drift.