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Cleveland Browns: 3 Questions Going Into The Bye Week

By Kristopher Grimes

Nov 6, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; A general view from the end zone during the game of the Dallas Cowboys against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Cowboys won 35-10. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 6, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; A general view from the end zone during the game of the Dallas Cowboys against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Cowboys won 35-10. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
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Aug 13, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Dawg Pound flag after a touchdown during the first quarter of preseason NFL football game against the Washington Redskins at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 13, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Dawg Pound flag after a touchdown during the first quarter of preseason NFL football game against the Washington Redskins at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports /

After The Bye Week and Beyond

For all the forward thinking, there are still four games that remain. In those four games, the Cleveland Browns can do a lot of things. In my three questions, I chose not to focus on the last four games.

Why? Because the Browns can establish themselves in the annals of losing history by going 0-16, or they can go 1-15, or even 4-12. What matters at the end of the day is that 2016 has to be the bottom. If the Cleveland Browns are going to turn it around in 2017, they need to make sure that they work towards improving on the moves and the mistakes they made in 2016.

They need to find out what they want to do with Robert Griffin III. Is he still in the plans for 2017, or was he a hopeful pipe dream that no longer has a place on this team?

Then the Browns need to stay the course. Being 0-12 there’s a lot to look at when it comes to Hue Jackson’s failures thus far, and judge Sashi Brown’s draft based off the success other players he passed on are having elsewhere. Yet the Browns shouldn’t panic. It’s not going to get better if we keep firing and restarting the plan. Can we stay the course like the 1976 Buccaneers did?

Finally, Sashi Brown, Hue Jackson, and the entire Browns organization will have key decisions to make going into the off-season. There is the draft, where they’ll have high picks, and the opportunity to get playmakers. Followed by decisions on Pryor and Collins. Are they worth the money they will command? Or are long-time Browns like Thomas and Haden are part of the future or better used to acquire future assets?

These are all the questions burning through my mind as the Bye week comes in to play for the Browns. I can only imagine the questions running through the minds of other fans, the Browns front office, Jimmy Haslam’s mind, and Hue Jackson’s.

The losses are mounting, the pressure is building, and the potential wins are getting harder and to find. The bye week is only the beginning of what will be a long end to the 2016 season. I just hope as a longtime Browns fan, that for once, this regime knows what it’s doing, and it’ll make the right moves to finally turn the franchise around.

Next: 4 Browns Who Should Be In The HOF

Eighteen years of suffering is enough for even the most die-hard of Browns fans.

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