Browns are currently tied for the last playoff spot in AFC
The Cleveland Browns were pretty terrible in Week 3, very terrible in Week 1 and adequate in Week 2, their only victory. There is room for wiggle room in those descriptions but the overall feeling about the team’s performances is accurate.
On the field, the Browns have not looked good and have not given their fans very much reason for hope. Our Week 3 grades reflect that as does the blame that is shared around the team. Not a lot of winners, quite a few losers and a big concern about OT Dawand Jones leads into Week 4.
As the optimistic “find hope” guy, it came to me last night:
The ONE positive for the Browns so far is both losses have been against the NFC and the one win versus AFC#tiebreaker
— Jared Mueller (@JaredKMueller) September 23, 2024
There are levels to importance of games in the NFL:
- Divisional games
- Conference opponents
- The rest
Cleveland has not had a chance for the top-level games but the one conference game they played, against the Jacksonville Jaguars, was their only victory. The other two games came against NFC opponents.
I thought that would be the only positive coming out of Week 3 until I looked at the conference standings.
As of now, just six teams have winning records in the AFC going into Week 4. While there are two games on Monday Night Football, there will still just be six AFC teams with better than .500 records.
That means the Browns are tied for the seventh playoff spot currently and are the only 1-2 team to have not lost a game in the conference. While that doesn’t matter much right now (the official NFL media page has Cleveland 13th in the conference), it could matter as we get later in the season.
The Browns aren’t very good and have given fans no reason to think that is going to change anytime soon, especially as we await word on a number of injuries. Thankfully, if the team can turn things around, the hole they have dug is not a deep one and the conference around them is most at their level still.
How surprised are you that the AFC only has six teams with winning records going into Week 4?
