Factory Of Sadness
FanSided

Breaking Down 3 Key Aspects of the Cleveland Browns' 2024 Schedule

By Josh Ungar

Nov 12, 2023; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) calls out to teammates before the snap against the Baltimore Ravens during the second half at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jessica Rapfogel-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 12, 2023; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) calls out to teammates before the snap against the Baltimore Ravens during the second half at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jessica Rapfogel-USA TODAY Sports / Jessica Rapfogel-USA TODAY Sports
facebooktwitterreddit

The NFL schedule release is one of the bigger events of the offseason calendar.

In regards to the Cleveland Browns 2024 slate, there were three aspects of interest to look for when the schedule was released:

  1. Who was their Week 1 opponent?
  2. What week would the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs?
  3. When would the Browns make their road trips to Denver and Las Vegas?

Week 1

In regards to the Week 1 game, for whatever reason, the NFL schedule makers love to give the Browns an AFC North division game to open the season. In the last 12 seasons, the Browns have played a division game in Week 1 five times (Cincinnati in 2011 and 2023, Baltimore in 2020, and Pittsburgh in 2017 and 2018).  

Logic would have told you the Browns were more than likely to open the season against an AFC North opponent. However since the entire AFC North is facing the NFC East this season, the NFL decided to place the Browns in “America’s Game of the Week” Week 1 on FOX against “America’s Team”, the Dallas Cowboys.

This will be the fourth time since 2008 the Browns will play an NFC East opponent in Week 1, the other three being the Cowboys in 2008, the Philadelphia Eagles in 201 and against the Eagles in 2016. 

The game against Dallas will not only be a repeat of the 2008 home opener for the Browns, but it will feature the broadcasting debut of the GOAT Tom Brady. This is a gigantic spot for the Browns  because of the individual matchups between Dak Prescott and  Deshaun Watson, Amari Cooper (who got traded from the Cowboys to the Browns) and CeeDee Lamb, plus Micah Parsons and Myles Garrett. 

On the NFC East note, the Browns will get all four of their NFC East games out of the way in the first six weeks of the season, as they’ll host the Cowboys in Week 1 and the Giants visit in Week 3, before Browns take on the Washington Commanders in Week 5 and Philadelphia Eagles in Week 6 on the road.

Chiefs Matchup

Cleveland Heights native Travis Kelce (and maybe Taylor Swift), Patrick Mahomes, and the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Chiefs will come to the Dawg Pound in Week 15 to take on Watson, Garrett, Nick Chubb, and the Browns.

The NFL elected to not schedule this game for prime time or in the 4:25 Sunday afternoon national window despite the QB matchup of Mahomes against Watson. Instead, this game will be in the 1 p.m. window.

Including the AFC Divisional Round in 2020 -- a game Browns fans are still upset about due to the non-targeting call on safety Daniel Sorensen -- the Chiefs have won five straight against Cleveland. The last time these two teams met was Week 1 of the 2021 season in Arrowhead Stadium, a game the Chiefs came away victorious 33-29. The last time the Browns defeated the Chiefs was on Dec. 9, 2012, in Cleveland 30-7. 

West Coast Road Trip

As for the other AFC West matchups, they all take place prior to the Kansas City game. The Browns will travel to Sin City to take on the Raiders in Week 4 on Sept. 29. They will host Jim Harbaugh, Justin Herbert, and the LA Chargers in Week 9 on Nov. 3, and they will travel to the Rocky Mountains to take on Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos on MNF on Dec. 2. Therefore, the Raiders and Broncos west coast trips for the Browns will not occur in back-to-back weeks. 

Taking a holistic view at the Browns schedule, the NFL schedule makers did Cleveland no favors from Week 12 on. The Browns will play Pittsburgh twice in a three-week span (Week 12 in Cleveland on TNF and Week 14 in Pittsburgh), in Denver (MNF), Kansas City, at Cincinnati (TNF), Miami (SNF), and at Baltimore to conclude the season.

That is four division games in the final seven weeks of the season, as well as four prime time games to conclude the season, with two of them coming on a short week on TNF. That is a gauntlet of a schedule for a team who will be presumably  fighting for a playoff spot and potentially the division in maybe the hardest division and conference in pro football.

The Browns statistically have the hardest schedule in the NFL based on their opponents winning percentage from last season. It is imperative the Browns start off fast to begin the 2024 campaign, as they try to win their first division crown since 1989, when they were in the AFC Central division. 

In other Browns news:

feed

Home/Cleveland Browns