OF RANKINGS, REPUTATIONS AND REASONS
By STEVE KING
Is this week’s edition of the sportsillustrated.com NFL power rankings accurate?
I know I’m supposed to give opinion and provide perspective on brownsdailydose.com, but on this one, I have to be honest and say that I really don’t know for sure.
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But what I do know for sure is that I sure have some questions.
Oh, and one other thing, I know – for sure – that once you earn a reputation – good or bad – it takes a long, long time to lose it, change it.
Going into opening weekend, the Browns were ranked 30th, or just two spots from the very bottom. The Pittsburgh Steelers were ninth.
I thought that both teams were ranked a bit low, but that’s beside the point at this point.
The Browns and Steelers, of course, somehow managed to play to a 21-21 tie last Sunday at FirstEnergy situation.
Now, in this week’s rankings, the Browns are still 30th, being ahead of only the Arizona Cardinals (31st) and Buffalo Bills (32nd), who might be only a three-point favorite if they played Alabama or Ohio State, and Pittsburgh is still ninth.
Hmmm.
Double-hmmm.
Trying to figure all that out.
The Browns didn’t win the game – they came closer to losing it than winning it by virtue of a tie, which is a miserable end-result for any game in any pro sport – but, by virtue of an outstanding defensive performance, they didn’t officially lose the game, either. With that, then, how did they stay the same? How? How? Shouldn’t the No. 9 team have been beaten to a pulp by the No. 9 team? That it didn’t happen should mean something – positive – for the Browns, I would argue — vehemently. I would be right.
And that they have Super Bowl aspirations, shouldn’t the fact that the Steelers were darn lucky to have escaped with a tie with the No. 9 team, knock them back a little?
Yes.
But the Steelers have a reputation for having been good for quite a while, and likewise, or conversely, however you want to look at it, these new Browns have a reputation for having been bad for quite a while.
It’s hard to change those reputations. It’s going to take much, much more than one tie game to do so.
