Making a point about Arrowhead
You won’t hear it on Saturday afternoon because the Browns and Kansas City Chiefs will be playing only a preseason game, and in fact, the preseason finale, but Arrowhead Stadium provides the best home-field advantage in the NFL.
It is the loudest stadium in the league, in my humble opinion, and with the atmosphere the fans create with that noise, it is the toughest stadium for opponents to win in.
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No matter what the Chiefs are, or aren’t — and in most cases, especially recently, they’ve been outstanding — it just seems like they can’t lose in that place. They have such a confidence level, and the fans have a confidence level, too. They feel like when they show up at a game, the Chiefs will find a way to win. And they’re usually right.
Cleveland Stadium used to be that way back in the day. In 1989, in Marty Schottenheimer’s first year as the Chiefs head coach, Nick Lowery, possibly the best kicker in the game at the time, missed four field goals in a game that ended up in a tie.
These new Browns need to make Cleveland Browns Stadium like the old place used to be. On Saturday, they will get a look at a place that is already there.
Penny wise and a pound foolish?
The Browns have all this room under the salary cap — their NFL-leading total has edged forward to a whopping $37 million — and that’s great in the long term in that it helps them to maintain a competitive roster for a longer period of time.
But, much more importantly, the question that begs to be asked is if it is wise in the short term — the here and now — in building a contending team for this season?
As the old, old saying goes, “Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.”
We say this because beyond starter Nick Chubb, arguably the best running back in the league, the position is a real mess. The main reason for that is the fact that second-stringer Jerome Ford, the only viable backup, has been sidelined for nearly three weeks with a hamstring problem. Those injuries can linger for a long time, so there’s no telling when he might be available.
This wouldn’t be such a problem
If the Browns had not dug their heels in during the offseason and refused to consider re-signing Kareem Hunt, a guy who can do it all at a high level. They sure had the money to do so.
There is still plenty of time — more than two weeks — before the regular-season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, so the situation may change and be resolved. But if it doesn’t and there’s no viable back to spell Chubb, then it could be a real problem and the Browns would have no one but themselves to blame.
