June 19, 2013

Why do the Browns play the Eagles twice in three weeks?

April 18, 2012 by 13 Comments

Something has been staring us all in the face since the NFL schedule came out and I don’t think anyone has brought it up yet. Thankfully for us, we have the benefit of readership that is more observant than we are. We were alerted to the fact that the Browns play the Eagles in the all-important, “dress-rehearsal” third game of the preseason a mere two weeks before the Eagles come back to Cleveland for the season opener.

I know teams don’t tend to show a ton of their secrets in the pre-season, but it certainly seems odd that the schedule-makers would put these two games so close together and also have the Browns play the most “real” pre-season game against the same team.

In 2011 the Browns pre-season opponents were the Packers, Lions, Eagles and Bears in that order. In 2o12 it is the Lions, Packers, Eagles and Bears. Even a slight change in order placing the Eagles earlier would make more sense.

In the end, it probably isn’t a giant deal, I guess, but doesn’t it seem odd? As if the Browns didn’t have enough to think about in terms of working on their team and gameplan, but now they’ll have to think about being that much more secretive and “vanilla” when they’re trying to emulate the way they actually want to come out of the gate to start the NFL season.

I’ll admit I don’t have tons of knowledge about the schedule and its intricacies year over year, but this does strike me as strange.

[Related: 2012 Cleveland Browns schedule has been released]

Related Posts

Zemanta
Filed Under: Headlines Tagged With: , , , ,
  • Ritz

    I hope Shurmur and Chilly don’t show too much of their innovative offense to the Eagles in the preseason.

  • Ezzie Goldish

    I get why they try to keep as many opponents as possible geographically close, and the Colts and Bills would have been similar issues, but why not have games against the Titans or Jets like they did a few years ago? And if you’re really stuck with the Eagles, at least don’t schedule that as the only real preseason game… and if that happens too, why would you then have the same team come two weeks later for the home opener?

    It’s just so odd.

  • Kildawg

    At least it’s not the Rats and Squealers twice each in the last five weeks. At least division seems more winnable this year given we were close in many games last year. Over/under should be six wins as there are teams we should beat (Oak, Was, Indy, Buf, even the bungles and rest of division. Throw in overachievers like Phi, Dal, and SD as well that give us a shot).

  • cmm13

    The schedule maker’s agent is Bob Lamonte.

    /explain’d

  • mgbode

    maybe a big deal if it was another team.  as it is, I think we might know each others playbooks sort of well.

  • Kevin

    This doesn’t matter at all. Neither team will be playing meaningful games at any point in the season.

  • RyInCbus

    I know we tend to think of everything in brown and orange but the Eagles will also have to be “that much more secretive and “vanilla” when they’re trying to emulate the way they actually want to come out of the gate to start the NFL season.”  It’s not like this gives a unfair advantage to one team over the other.  We’re both in the same boat.  I don’t think its a big deal, but that’s just me.  

  • Natedawg86

    Let the better team/coach win

  • Lucas Vaas

    no. you’re obviously new around here. the browns and the eagles are not in the same “boat”. we’re not even in the same “ocean”. i believe our “boat” is on the 2nd or 3rd year of a 5 year rebuilding plan… the eagles could run the exact same plays in both games and come out winners twice…WFN3Y’s!

  • RyInCbus

    I’m anything but new.  But maybe it’s that same OLD way of thinking that allows the same OLD things to keep happening in Cleveland. 

  • BenRM

    Its so the Eagles can get a good look at how Tannehill plays against the Browns’ defense :)

  • Garry_Owen

    Aren’t the teams responsible for their own pre-season schedules, and not the league?  I certainly may be wrong, but I thought that was the deal. 

  • Ezzie Goldish

    I don’t think it’s advantageous to either team, but it certainly seems like an odd scheduling quirk.