I have internal dialogue with myself all the time. Never more so than when I’m watching a sporting event involving the Browns, Indians, Cavs and Buckeyes. And I have to admit I’m a bit worried about what I’m saying to me in regard to the Cleveland Browns lately (and specifically after Browns-Lions on Saturday). After the first pre-season game against Green Bay I was excited. The Browns played the Packers even in pretty much every facet of the game and actually came out of Lambeau Field with a win. I told myself that the pre-season was indeed important when you’re looking for a cultural change with an organization and when you were looking to progress on the field.
After the last two games, both losses in which the lack of depth and defensive talent on the field showed through, I’m starting to tell me that it’s only pre-season and to stop being so critical about the end result.
That’s known as ‘rationalization’ in the pseudo-sports writing business. You can also call it ‘masking’, ‘fooling yourself’, ‘disingenuous’ and ‘intellectually dishonesty’.
The bottom line is I do not like what I’m seeing on the defensive side of the ball. The Browns gave up 35 points to the Detroit Lions in what’s widely assumed to be the closest you’re going to get to an actual NFL game in the pre-season. They gave up 35 points to Matt Stafford and a team that had their starting running back out of the game before most fans had settled into their seats.
That’s just not going to cut it out when real bullets start flying in a few weeks.
Even if you take away the defensive TD the Lions scored the Browns defense simply wasn’t impactful. There weren’t enough impact plays and there haven’t been throughout the pre-season. It’s hard to imagine that the Browns are content playing a vanilla defense in the pre-season and that Scott Fujita and Chris Gocong will suddenly flip a switch when the season starts to become beasts.
There's a cloud hanging over the NFL at the moment and it probably isn't going away any time soon. 
Saturday night’s Browns game, the first home pre-season game in the Mike Holmgren era, wasn’t quite the coronation that some hopeful folks were expecting. There was no lead car with Holmgren, Eric Mangini and Jake Delhomme leading the parade through Public Square en route to Cleveland Browns Stadium to celebrate the return of respectability to the Browns after last week’s win in Green Bay. 
Imagine if you can that you're a 17-year old first baseman from the Dominican Republic. Playing every day since you were old enough to stand upright, you get good enough that a major league team, say the Houston Astros, signs you to a contract. You beat around the minor league level for several years but never get past Double A ball. It happens. 
