Can Johnny Football save the Cleveland Browns: Win total examined for 2014 season

While it appears NFL fans will have to wait to see if Johnny Manziel is the real thing, the truth is there has been a revolving door of quarterbacks in Cleveland for 15 years. So odds are Johnny Football will get on the field sooner than later. Until then, it’s Brian Hoyer’s team, which will struggle without Josh Gordon.

Last year that aforementioned revolving door of quarterbacks had the team ranked 11th in passing but a dismal 27th against the run. Defensively, the squad was 8th against the pass and 18th against the run.

New Coach Mike Pettine decided to go defense with the team’s first round pick, cornerback Justin Gilbert, who so far in the preseason looks lost. So far the team’s best pick appears to be third round middle linebacker Chris Kirksey.

Looking to this season, the Browns face five playoff teams with an overall schedule featuring opponents boasting a .465 winning percentage last year (26th toughest in the league). Furthermore, the will be playing two sets of back-to-back road games.

Oddsmakers have the Browns posted at 6.5 (over EVEN) for o/u wins. If you believe Johnny Football is the real deal, taking the over with its payout is the easy pick.

Cleveland Browns: The Browns have been in the news a lot this spring, some of it with excitement with Johnny Manziel drafted, but Cleveland also was dealt very tough news with Josh Gordon potentially suspended for the season after his breakout 2013 season. Cleveland had to go through three quarterbacks last season and finding stability at that position has been a constant challenge for the organization. Adding Manziel to look over Brian Hoyer’s shoulder may not be the ideal approach, but Hoyer was not able to stay healthy last season. The schedule for the Browns in 2014 looks promising with only two 2013 playoff teams on the schedule in the first 13 weeks. That lighter slate early could ease the coaching transition with Mike Pettine taking over this season. The Browns lost the final seven games of last season and another tough finish could be ahead with four of the final six games on the road and a closing slate of Indianapolis, Cincinnati, at Carolina, at Baltimore.

Each of the last three seasons, Cleveland has gone 1-7 on the road, but there are winnable road games on the schedule this season, playing at Tennessee, at Jacksonville, at Atlanta, and at Buffalo outside of the division. Cleveland will have the second-lightest travel schedule in the NFL in terms of distance, going fewer than 4,000 miles for eight road games with no game further west than Nashville. While the excitement is growing in Cleveland and the Browns will get more national play in the media this season, breaking out of the basement in the division still seems like a long shot.

Cleveland Browns 2014 Schedule Numbers:

2014 Opponents Win Percentage in 2013: .465 (26/32)

Games vs. 2013 Playoff Teams: 5 (three home, two away)

Miles Traveled for 8 road/neutral games: 3,634

Back-to-Back road game sets: 2

Primetime Games: 1 (1 Thursday)