The Browns are a banged-up and beaten-down crew as they get ready to play the Cincinnati Bengals tonight at Paul Brown Stadium on Thursday Night Football.
 
They are 2-6 at the halfway point and have lost three in a row. Their 33-30 victory over the Baltimore Ravens in overtime nearly a month ago, way back on Oct. 11, is almost fading from memory.
 
The Bengals are 7-0 and are coming off an impressive 16-10 road victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. As such, their start-fast, finish-slowly performances of recent seasons are almost fading from memory.
 
The NFL is set up so that, at least in most regards, there is great parity, which means almost every game is close.
 
But struggling teams are such because they almost always lose those close games, and the Browns have, falling once by seven points when they were close to tying the score, and dropping two games by three points, including one in overtime.
 
Streaking teams are such they almost always win those close games, and the Bengals have, having victories of six, five, four and three points.
 
Because of their losing ways, and the fact they keep losing starters to injuries, the Browns are decided underdogs and may well get run off the field tonight. But the one thing worth watching is Johnny Manziel, who will start at quarterback for the injured Josh McCown. The Browns need to find out – in long-form – what this 2014 first-round draft pick can do, and since they are going nowhere, this is a great time to start that process in earnest.
 
Playing the Bengals last year, and losing 30-0 and looking bad doing it, is where it all began to go horribly wrong for Manziel and the Browns. Maybe the reverse will happen this time, although many people scoff at such a suggestion.
 
But at least with Manziel there is a hope, with his youthfulness, his draft status and what he did in college, that he can get better.
 
Conversely, absolutely nothing would have been gained by playing the 36-year-old McCown, a tough guy and a likeable guy who sometimes puts up good stats but doesn’t make nearly enough plays in crucial situations, and as such always performs just poorly enough to lose. He is 2-15 in his last 17 NFL starts, and all that does is get the head coach and all his assistants eventually fired and most of the players jettisoned.
 
That, then, is a dead-end road. Perhaps the Browns can start crawling forward tonight.
 
We’ll see.