Written by Thomas Moore

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The Cleveland Browns open the 2012 NFL season on Sunday at home against Philadelphia, a team that the Browns saw just a few weeks ago in the preason.

The Opposition

Philadelphia record (2011): 8-8
Offensive rank: 4th overall/9th passing/5th rushing
Defensive rank: 8th overall/10th passing/16th rushing
All-time record: Browns lead 31-16-1, although they are 0-3 vs. the Eagles with Andy Reid as coach
Last meeting: Eagles won, 30-10, in 2008
The line: Browns (+8.5)

What to Watch For

The baby Browns open up what is sure to be another “interesting” season of football with 15 rookies and 11 second-year players on the roster. How quickly a majority of those players get up to speed and how well they play will go a long way toward determining if the Browns are finally on the right track.

Brandon Weeden is one of five rookie quarterbacks making his first NFL start – the first time that has happened in league history – and he probably has the toughest match-up of the weekend (although you could make a case for Washington traveling to New Orleans).

Weeden will be facing an Eagles pass rush that recorded 50 sacks last season and overwhelmed the Browns starting offensive line in the teams’ preseason friendly matchup a few weeks ago. While this is a tough way to start the season, the Eagles are going to throw a lot at Weeden and the experience should pay off in the long run (if he survives).

If nothing else, Weeden knows what he’s getting into and sounds ready.

“They’re extremely fast off the football, and their main objective is to hit me in the chin,” Weeden told The Beacon Journal. “They’re great football players. They pay those guys a lot of money to get to the quarterback. That’s kind of their agenda. It’s definitely something that’s on the front of our mind. I saw it two weeks ago. We’re going to try to have a way to prepare for those guys.”

One way the Browns can prepare for the Eagles is through the running game – they were a middle-of-the-road 16th against the run last season. As talented as the defensive line is at rushing the passer, a physical offensive line can push them around and help a runner get into the second layer for some nice gains.

That’s where Trent Richardson comes in.

The rookie running back missed all of the preseason with a knee injury, but looks ready to go on Sunday. How much he can handle after not playing in a real game since January is the big question.

“I think it is going to feel good if I am out there on the field,” Richardson said. “Anyway that it goes I know these guys are going to do whatever they can to win the ballgame. If I’m out there or not, I’m a team player first so I’m going to do the best thing I can to help this team. I really just can’t wait to see what this program can do.”

Of course, all of this starts up front with the offensive line. The Browns struggled against the Eagles in the preseason, and Philadelphia played that game without defensive end Jason Babin, who had 18 sacks last year.

Keeping Babin under control will fall to rookie right tackle Mitchell Schwartz, who will most likely get blocking help from a tight end (Alex Smith was named a Week 1 captain, perhaps Shurmur is tipping his hand a bit?)

“There’s no easing into it,” Schwartz told The Plain Dealer. “We’ve had four games so far, you’ve played four pretty good players. Every team’s going to have good pass rushers. Every team’s going to have good defensive linemen, good guys you’re going against. There’s no easing into it at all.”

On the defensive side, it’s going to be quite a challenge for the Browns.

The Eagles had the fourth-best offense in the NFL last year and, in addition to having to worry about quarterback Michael Vick, the Browns are going to have to deal with LeSean McCoy.

Last season McCoy ran for 1,309 yards and 17 touchdowns, and added 48 receptions and another three touchdowns. His 20 total touchdowns were as many as the Browns scored on offense last season. And did we mention that the Browns had three opportunities to draft McCoy in the second round of the 2009 draft and passed each time? Like the Jelly-of-the-Month Club, the 2009 draft is the gift that keeps on giving.

“We would like to improve against the run, but again as long as we win games I don’t really care, we can give up yardage,” defensive coordinator Dick Jauron said. “Going into (the season) you’ve got to try to improve those things. We don’t want to be wherever we were against the run, 30th. You want to do everything really well. To win in this league I think you have to do everything pretty well everywhere, kick it, cover it, offense and defense. You’ve got to be pretty good to win consistently.” 

The fact that the Browns are painfully thin at linebacker – Chris Gocong and James-Michael Johnson (the only player on the injury reported listed as Out) are injured and it is questionable if Scott Fujita will play – which puts even more pressure on the defensive line.

The other big match-up will be cornerback Joe Haden against wide receiver DeSean Jackson. Despite admitting he didn’t always try last year because he was pouting about wanting a new contract, Jackson still caught 58 passes for 961 yards.

“I’d like to get my hands on DeSean because he’s not a big receiver,” Joe Haden told The Plain Dealer. “So if you can just disrupt him, it’ll help out a whole lot with their timing and with the speed.”

“(DeSean is) very smooth and extremely fast,” Jauron said. “He has another gear when the ball gets up in the air. It’s hard to overthrow him because he’s really fast. It adds a whole other dimension to an already very talented football team. He runs reverses. They get the ball to him on screens. They throw the ball down the field, he stretches the field. He returns punts at times, he’s a very dynamic player.”

The Browns vs. Eagles Game That Will Be Difficult to Top

When the Browns entered the NFL in 1950, the league wanted to teach the upstarts a lesson, so they scheduled the opening game of the season against the defending NFL Champion Eagles in Philadelphia

Of course, no one told the Browns they were supposed to play the patsy in the NFL’s drama, and they rolled over the Eagles, 35-10, on their way to winning the 1950 championship.

The Prediction

The Browns are 1-12 in opening games since 1999 and have lost seven openers in a row.

When Weeden takes his first snap of the game he will be the 11th different quarterback to start an opener for the Browns since 1999 (and the first rookie to start a season opener in franchise history).

We would feel a bit better if we knew how much Richardson was going to be able to play on Sunday. If he can run the ball well, the Browns have a chance to slow down the game and keep the ball away from the Eagles.

But after missing so much time it’s hard to see Richardson making a huge impact in his first game back.

Kicker Phil Dawson, who has been there for every one of those 13 openers since 1999, is philosophical about the situation.

“We haven’t won a whole lot of games overall,” Dawson told The Plain Dealer. “So had we been very successful throughout the entire seasons and we were 1-12 in openers, I think it might be a bigger story. The fact that we’ve struggled beginning, middle and end, I don’t know that it’s as big an issue as it sounds.”

If this game was later on the schedule and the Browns’ rookies had more game experience, the Browns might have a chance to pull of an upset. But that is not the case.

As much as we would like to be optimistic about the Browns chances – and, after all, if you can’t be optimistic in Week 1, when can you be? – we are going to go with the Eagles and lay the points.

(Photo courtesy of ClevelandBrowns.com)