Importance of rivalries - Browns Daily Dose

IMPORTANCE OF RIVALRIES – THE RIVALRIES, THE RIVALRIES, THE RIVALRIES

By STEVE KING

With the fact he grew up 20 miles north of Pittsburgh rooting for the Steelers, and that his professional mentor is Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin, the recent hiring of Joe Woods as Cleveland defensive coordinator adds some interesting sidelights — and some spice — to the suddenly re-energized rivalry between the Browns and Steelers.

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But it goes even beyond that, for in the more pragmatic sense, having Woods on the staff will be a constant reminder to new head coach Kevin Stefanski and his assistants of the importance of rivalries – and the ones with the AFC North’s two other teams, the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals – are to the Browns’ efforts to get themselves turned around.

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With all the coaching changes they have had in this expansion era – and as we know all too well, there have been plenty of those in the last 20 years – the Browns bring in these guys from all parts of the country, and from a variety of teams in the NFL, and try to get them to understand the importance of the games in these rivalries. To a man, they all say they get it, but there has been plenty of evidence over the year to prove that they really do not. They don’t grasp it at all, and in some cases, they brazenly don’t care to do so.

Indeed, aside from the juicy aspects of these rivalries, which really are for the fans and media more than for the coaches and players, these division games mean a lot. All 16 games in the regular season count the same in the standings, but the six in the North count for so much more. They give the Browns a real boost emotionally, or a kick in the gut, for a full game is either won or lost in the division when you play them.

For the Browns to get to where they eventually – and much sooner rather than later – want to go, they have to do well in the division, and having Joe Woods around will help so much in that regard.