Written by Chris Hutchison

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From the 500 section of the north side of the stadium, it was a beautiful view Sunday.  The sky was clear, the water was blue, and the wind was dotting the lake with whitecaps which would occasionally burst open on the breakwater.  A few boats idled about, and in the distance solitary planes would slide by.  It was serene, peaceful.

Much in contrast to my seat about 100 feet away, since from there I could see the field.

Perhaps due to tailgating hard in preparation for what I knew was inevitably coming, I was angry before I even entered the stadium.  I knew what I was about to see.  And my anger didn't abate once the game began.  I became The Guy That Everyone Hates - you know, the guy that sits there all pissy making disparaging comments and spewing "See?" and "I told you so" after each of his negative predictions comes true.  I'm fairly certain that everyone in my section wanted to kill me.  I hate that guy too, but even as I was doing it, I couldn't stop it.  I came in expecting more of the same fucking garbage that I'd been forced to behold for the last decade and a half, and there they were, giving it to me, shoving it down my throat.  It made me FURIOUS.  I honestly cannot remember being so angry at a sporting event.

But how could you expect anything but more of the same when the team's Front Office effectively passed on the offseason?  How could you expect anything but more of the same when every regime has the same laissez-faire attitude towards the present as a prisoner stuck in solitary confinement?

There's really not much more to say about the Browns.  You saw it.  On many levels their situation is utterly depressing.  Fin.

Naturally, the first rankings finds them at a well-deserved #30.

These aren't my personal rankings any more, kids, no these are completely unbiased straight-from-the-numbers rankings using my HERO system.  And numbers often lie (like placing the Chiefs at #1).  But putting the Browns and Jaguars in the bottom 3?  Hard to argue with those results.

As I said, this is based solely on the numbers, and this early in the season that can lead to some skewed rankings that certainly won't reflect what they will look like in a couple weeks.  But if your team had a nice Week 1, you might as well feel good about them while you can before the unpleasant realities of being the Jets, Dolphins, Chiefs, and Lions comes raining down on your unhelmeted heads.

Team	Wins	Losses	Ties	WP	Avg_PF	Avg_PA	Diff	Rank_PF	Rank_PA	Rank_Final
Kansas City	1	0	0	1	28.00	2.00	26	8	1	1
Denver	1	0	0	1	49.00	27.00	22	1	20	2
Detroit	1	0	0	1	34.00	24.00	10	3	17	3
Miami	1	0	0	1	23.00	10.00	13	17	4	4
New Orleans	1	0	0	1	23.00	17.00	6	17	7	5
Philadelphia	1	0	0	1	33.00	27.00	6	5	20	6
San Francisco	1	0	0	1	34.00	28.00	6	3	23	7
Tennessee	1	0	0	1	16.00	9.00	7	27	3	8
Dallas	1	0	0	1	36.00	31.00	5	2	26	9
Chicago	1	0	0	1	24.00	21.00	3	14	11	10
Indianapolis	1	0	0	1	21.00	17.00	4	20	7	11
Seattle	1	0	0	1	12.00	7.00	5	28	2	12
St. Louis	1	0	0	1	27.00	24.00	3	11	17	13
Houston	1	0	0	1	31.00	28.00	3	6	23	14
New England	1	0	0	1	23.00	21.00	2	17	11	15
N.Y. Jets	1	0	0	1	18.00	17.00	1	23	7	16
Tampa Bay	0	1	0	0	17.00	18.00	-1	24	10	17
Buffalo	0	1	0	0	21.00	23.00	-2	20	14	18
San Diego	0	1	0	0	28.00	31.00	-3	8	26	19
Arizona	0	1	0	0	24.00	27.00	-3	14	20	20
Cincinnati	0	1	0	0	21.00	24.00	-3	20	17	21
Oakland	0	1	0	0	17.00	21.00	-4	24	11	22
Carolina	0	1	0	0	7.00	12.00	-5	31	5	23
N.Y. Giants	0	1	0	0	31.00	36.00	-5	6	31	24
Green Bay	0	1	0	0	28.00	34.00	-6	8	29	25
Atlanta	0	1	0	0	17.00	23.00	-6	24	14	26
Washington	0	1	0	0	27.00	33.00	-6	11	28	27
Pittsburgh	0	1	0	0	9.00	16.00	-7	30	6	28
Minnesota	0	1	0	0	24.00	34.00	-10	14	29	29
Cleveland	0	1	0	0	10.00	23.00	-13	29	14	30
Baltimore	0	1	0	0	27.00	49.00	-22	11	32	31
Jacksonville	0	1	0	0	2.00	28.00	-26	32	23	32