Sports Guy picks Steelers to win division but lose to WC NYJ

[RuthlessBurgher]

[url]http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080904[/url]

ESPN's Bill Simmons (The Sports Guy) pegged us for a 10-6 record, with Cleveland at 7-9 and both Cincinnati and Baltimore at 6-10. The best article of the article was the following, though:

Prediction No. 4: Cleveland will stink.

I'm not a big fan of this formula: Artificially high expectations + too many nationally televised games (five in all) + brutal schedule + too much luck last season (what are the odds of them getting 32 games from Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards again?) + brewing QB controversy + horrible preseason = Yikes.

Also, their two biggest offseason moves were fundamentally illogical: Trading for Shaun Rogers and keeping Derek Anderson. In the salary-cap era, you can't keep Anderson (who had two good months and tailed off) after dealing a future No. 1 and committing all that money to Brady Quinn. It's like drafting QBs in the first two rounds of a fantasy draft -- yeah, you can do it, but it never works. Why not trade Anderson for two draft picks and back the guy who you loved so much a year before? And why compound the error by trading your 2nd and 3rd round picks plus a valuable cornerback (Leigh Bodden) for expensive and possibly shaky defensive linemen (Corey Williams and Shaun Rogers). That's a swing of four draft picks plus Bodden! Didn't they see what happened with the Giants last year? If you made a "How to win the Super Bowl" formula, would "Pay two quarterbacks big money" and "Don't get anything from your draft" be two of the pieces? OF COURSE NOT!!! On the bright side, "taking the Browns to the Super Bowl" remains my favorite euphemism for making a doody.

[Shawn]

What this writer fails to understand is the Browns formula for suckiness. They subconsciously make moves to undermine their ability to win. They have a typical losers mentality...they self handicap then play the loser roll to perfection. They really wouldn't know what to do with themselves if they started winning...ie last season.

[Discipline of Steel]

"On the bright side, "taking the Browns to the Super Bowl" remains my favorite euphemism for making a doody."


Thats hilarious, Im going to have to use that one. Almost as funny as the guy at Pro Football Talk who picked the Ravens to win the division and the Steelers to finish fourth. I dont know about anyone else but I pick the Steelers to win the Super Bowl every year and this year is no different. I believe!