How good, and interesting and exciting and hopeful, is this Browns season getting?

So much so, in fact, that a growing number of NFL analysts and talking heads believe the Browns are the best bet in the AFC to derail the surging Baltimore Ravens.

The Ravens are 13–3 after winning six straight games and 10 of their last 11, and have already clinched the North Division title and the No. 1 seed in the AFC, giving them home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Almost as impressive is the dominant fashion in which they are earning these victories. In the last two weeks, for instance, they have rolled by the top-seeded team in the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers, by a score of 33–19 on the road, and it wasn’t even that close, and then the Miami Dolphins, one of the best clubs in the AFC, by a whopping 56-19.

If the Ravens continue to play at this pace, then they may roll to a Super Bowl championship. Indeed, they seem to be unstoppable.

But the last team to stop them, and actually beat them, was the Browns, who came from behind to win 33–31 at Baltimore on Nov. 12.That is not really a surprise, according to ESPN NFL analyst Jeff Saturday.

“When you’re in the same division with a team and see them year after year after year, you get to know them almost as well as you know yourself, and they know you, too.,” he said on Tuesday. “You know their strengths and weaknesses, and you know how to beat them. “

Saturday, a former longtime center for the Indianapolis Colts, pointed to the strength of the Browns defense and their ability to put pressure on quarterbacks and defend in the back end with their secondary, and also the play of quarterback Joe Flacco, as being the reasons why Cleveland has what it takes to beat the Ravens.

How incredible would it be if Flacco went into Baltimore during the playoffs and helped lead the Browns to an upset win over his former team, and the former Browns franchise?

Now, that really would be one for the ages.

Steve King