The Browns schedule …

Got to thinking about the Browns schedule, which came out a while back. Every year when I covered the Browns I'd do a summer rundown on the upcoming slate. This year's rundown is in Thursday's Beacon Journal, and it's online here.

Here's an excerpt, which I suppose is just sooo exciting and interesting that it will spur everyone to immediately call up the story online. Sheesh, the things you got to do anymore in this business …

"There was a time when predicting an NFL team's success (or lack of) based on a schedule was not that difficult.

In a not-too-distant past, teams did not yo-yo from one season to the next, go from good to bad or bad to good overnight.

These days, it's a little tougher to predict what will happen in the fall during the summer. Evidence: The Browns schedule last year, when three of the first four games seemed brutal in June but in September turned out to be merely a minor annoyance.

That being said, there is one clear conclusion to draw from the Brown schedule for 2008: It's brutal."

Here's the actual schedule:

Preseason:

August 7 – New York Jets – 730pm
August 18 – New York Giants – 8pm
August 23 – Detroit Lions – 4pm
August 28 – Chicago Bears – 730pm

Regular Season:

September 7 – Dallas Cowboys – 415pm
September 14 – Pittsburgh Steelers – 815pm
September 21 – Baltimore Ravens – 415pm
September 28 – Cincinnati Bengals – 1pm
October 13 – New York Giants – 1830pm
October 19 – Washington Redskins – 415pm
October 26 – Jacksonville Jaquars – 405pm
November 2 – Baltimore Ravens – 1pm
November 6 – Denver Broncos – 815pm
November 17 – Buffalo Bills – 830pm
November 23 – Houston Texans – 1pm
November 30 – Indianapolis Colts – 1pm
December 7 – Tennessee Titans – 1pm
December 15 – Philadelphia Eagles – 830pm
December 21 – Cincinnati Bengals – 1pm
December 28 – Pittsburgh Steelers – 1pm