Two of Cleveland鈥檚 pro sports teams are starting fresh this week. WKSU sports commentator Terry Pluto says the Browns are hoping to turn things around after the bye week, while the Cavs open the season with low expectations.
A reset for the Browns
The Browns return from the bye week with 10 games left in the season. 鈥淵ou hate to come back against the NFL鈥檚 best team,鈥� Pluto said. The Browns, who are a , head to Foxborough, MA, to face the 7-0 New England Patriots.
Pluto says it鈥檚 a pivotal game.
鈥淵ou could go there and make some adjustments, play a good game and lose anyway, and walk off the field and be 2-5. From a good point of view, if you actually beat New England, that鈥檚 huge.鈥�
Still Pluto says, the Browns need to start winning big games. 鈥淭hey have a rookie head coach in Freddie Kitchens. You have a second-year quarterback in Baker Mayfield that鈥檚 struggling, and you have a team that lacks a history of success. They鈥檙e trying to build their own culture of winning.鈥�
After New England, the schedule gets softer. They play Cincinnati (0-7) twice. They play the Miami Dolphins (0-6), the Arizona Cardinals (3-3-1) and the battered Pittsburgh Steelers (2-4).
鈥淏ut if they play like they did in San Francisco, losing 31-2 or losing by 30 points to Tennessee, I don鈥檛 care if you鈥檙e playing Cincinnati who鈥檚 terrible, you could lose. A lot of it is on who the Browns are, what kind of team they鈥檙e becoming. They鈥檙e hoping this bye week would begin a fresh start and a reset. They鈥檙e talking about making changes to the offensive line."
A rebuild year for the Cavs
The Cavs open the season Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic. It's the second year without LeBron James, and the team is essentially starting from scratch with a young group.
鈥淭his is a young team," Pluto said. "Their oldest player is Kevin Love, who鈥檚 31.鈥�
The Cavs' record was 19-63 last year. 鈥淢y feeling is that if they win 29, that would be considered good,鈥� Pluto said.
"They have a new coach in . The first time he ever coached a 48-minute game was in the preseason. And I know that Beilein has been a little shellshocked by what he鈥檚 seen in the preseason from his team because it hasn鈥檛 looked very good."
Still, Pluto said the team has some "young, interesting players," including 18-year-old top draft pick from Vanderbilt.
"He's got a lot of talent, but he played only four-and-a-half games in college. He blew out his knee playing against Kent State. He鈥檚 been battling some minor injuries in training camp.鈥�
And Pluto said he enjoys watching their second-year player, . "He averaged 20 points a game after the All-Star Break last year. He鈥檚 just turned 20, and he鈥檚 an electric scorer."
"This is a year, if you鈥檙e a basketball purist and you like young players and you鈥檙e curious what a 66-year-old rookie coach from college will do, that鈥檚 your Cavaliers."
Pluto said it's interesting to see how the two teams have flipped in the past two years.
"Two years ago, going into LeBron鈥檚 last year, that鈥檚 when the Browns were in their throes of the rebuilding analytics phase. We would be talking about the Browns as we just did the Cavs 鈥� they鈥檙e gonna lose a lot of games with young players. And it would be the Cavs that you鈥檙e expecting something really good to happen. But the Browns, unlike the Cavs, haven鈥檛 been able to take that step into being a playoff team and being a contender and the expectations were on them to do that this year."
"But I鈥檒l say this about the Cavaliers and John Beilein. There鈥檚 zero expectations from ownership and front office. Play these young guys, get some more draft picks and we鈥檒l check in again next year."
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