The New York Jets are a bad team — a really bad team.

This is absolutely no surprise, since they have been a bad team for a long, long time.

As such, then, the Browns, who are much, much better than the Jets, should, on paper at least, beat them when they play on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland’s home opener.

But don’t get hooked. Don’t get fooled. For as they say, these games aren’t played on paper, so anything can — and does — happen each week in the NFL.

Did any of you see the have the Minnesota Vikings dominating the Green Bay Packers, the Cincinnati Bengals losing in overtime to the quarterback-less Pittsburgh Steelers or the Tennessee Titans being edged by the New York Football Giants in Week?

I guess not, because I don’t see any raised hands.

Especially with their issues at quarterback, the Browns can’t just show up and beat anybody, even the Jets. They need to bring their “A” game every week. If they do that against the woeful Jets, then they will be fine. And if they don’t, then they won’t, and on Monday everybody will be wondering what happened to the Browns. It’s really that simple.

What’s at stake is a 2-0 start in a season in which the Browns’ schedule is backloaded, meaning that the much tougher games are yet to come. So, the Browns can ill afford to lose this one.