UTTQ 2011 NFL Predictions: AFC North

The 2011 season may have not begun, but our 2011 NFL Regular Season predictions have. Here's a brief summary of each AFC North team, in no particular order, starting with the defending AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers:

PITTSBURGH STEELERS
The Steelers have looked like their typical selves during the preseason. The question is can they translate that to the regular season? The Steelers may suffer from the Super Bowl hangover in an up and coming division. With a plethora of young, fast, and methodical receivers, ben Roethlisberger hopes to lead his team back to the promised land. Of course, this team has always been about defense, and features a defense that returns relatively intact from their Super Bowl run. Led by Troy Polamalu, James Harrison, and a slew of other studs, look for this team to scare others in a division of high playoff hopes.

CINCINNATI BENGALS
Did I say "a division of high playoff hopes"? Hmm...my bad. Looks like the Bengals ruined that picture. Carson Palmer literally screwed this team (or, perhaps it was Mike Brown). Without him, and with new quarterback Andy Dalton of TCU, the team looks destined to struggle this season. Gone are top offensive and defensive playmakers (Chad Ochocinco and Johnathan Joseph), with a bunch of young, unproven talent in place (particularly on offense). Manny Lawson and Nate Clements come in from the Bay Area to help a struggling defense.

BALTIMORE RAVENS
The team that will challenge the Steelers the most should undoubtedly be this Ravens team. After all, the defense is still studly (Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Haloti Ngata, and Terrell Suggs form the core of this unit), and the offense is up and coming with the development of Joe Flacco and runningback Ray Rice. Lee Evans provides a threat across from Anquan Boldin. Hell, even the kicker, Billy Cundiff, can be an consistent offensive threat.

CLEVELAND BROWNS
It was not too long ago that the 2007 Browns shocked the NFL world by going 10-6, only to miss the playoffs. And although that team was purely a fluke, this Browns team could be much better. Long gone is Derek Anderson, with Colt McCoy ready to take the helm of this team. Bruiser Peyton Hillis can be a real weapon on this team, but he needs some backfield buddies to provide depth (will Brandon Jackson heal in time, and will Montario Hardesty stay healthy?). The only thing will be to also groom a defense of up and coming playmakers like Joe Haden, and continue to use special teams extraordinaire Josh Cribbs effectively.


AFC NORTH TITLE: Pittsburgh Steelers

• The Steelers will be looking over their shoulders at the Ravens more this season, but it shouldn't be much of a problem. The Steelers have a creampuff schedule, and, with consistent play, should easily take this division.

WILD CARD TEAMS: Baltimore Ravens

• The Ravens will once again enter the playoffs right behind the Steelers, and could at least stick around for a while. The Browns are a work in progress, but they are showing signs of improvement. The Bengals have had their ups and downs through the years, but it's hard to ignore this current downward spiral.

The Greatest Teams: 1964 Cleveland Browns

We dig deep in the record books to find the best Cleveland Browns team. The Browns franchise has long been the definition of mediocrity in the NFL (apart from the Detroit Lions), with their playoff appearances being mostly one-and-done affairs. However, the Browns of the late 1940s through early 1960s were dominant and commanded much respect as a club. Originally we had trouble making a selection, so we'd like to give honorable mentions to the 1946, 1948, and 1955 Browns.

The 1964 Browns were a talented team, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Quarterback Frank Ryan led the squad, consisting of stellar rookies like runningback Leroy Kelly and split end Paul Warfield. Perennial Hall of Fame guard Gene Hickerson controlled the right side of the offensive line, with All-Pro tackle Dick Schafrath anchoring the left. Of course, the backfield was the main story about this team, which included halfback Ernie Green and fullback Jim Brown. Brown, one of the greatest runningbacks of all time, rushed for more than 1400 yards that season and scored a combined 9 touchdowns. The Browns vaulted to 3rd in the league in rushing offense, right behind the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. Overall, the Browns scored 415 points on the season, second in the league to the powerhouse Baltimore Colts.

The Browns defense was respectable enough, keeping the Browns in games but not providing overall dominance on the field. On special teams, Hall of Fame kicker Lou Groza continued his consistency as a kicker in the league, going 22 of 33 on field goals and a perfect 49 of 49 on extra points.

The Browns managed to get to a 10-3-1 season, earning a spot against the Baltimore Colts in the league's championship game. The Colts had gone 12-2, with a star-studded squad of quarterback Johnny Unitas, runningback Lenny Moore, split end Raymond Berry, tight end John Mackey, guard Jim Parker, defensive end Gino Marchetti, cornerback Bobby Boyd, and coach Don Shula. Surprisingly, this team was shut out by the Browns 27-0 on December 27, 1964 in the league championship. Browns wideout Gary Collins caught three Frank Ryan touchdown passes in a game that only began to get interesting in the 3rd quarter. The victory sealed the validity of the 1964 Cleveland Browns as NFL Champions, a title that would remain as the most recent championship to be brought back to the city of Cleveland in nearly 50 years.

Where will Shaun Rogers end up?

Perhaps one of the most recognizable defensive linemen in the NFL today is Shaun Rogers. Rogers, known for his tremendous size and strength, has been the inevitable backbone of the Detroit Lions from '01-'07, and the Cleveland Browns for the last two years. Rogers has been to 3 Pro Bowls during his career, and has been an effective nose tackle throughout his career. The only problem is that he's been stuck on some really crappy teams. The Lions and Browns have both combined for only 45 wins over Rogers' tenure with both teams, and surely he feels like he would like to compete. Rogers has visited the Washington Redskins, Kansas City Chiefs, and New Orleans Saints. Assuming he'd like to play for a winner, the Saints look to be the best option. The Saints could be losing a lot of players in free agency, and they will need to look for improvement on both sides of the ball. Rogers would be an immediate upgrade to Sedrick Ellis and Remi Ayodele in the front.

Alternatively, Rogers could opt for the Chiefs, with a defense led by former Browns coach Romeo Crennel, who briefly coached Rogers in Cleveland. The veteran NT Ray Edwards has been respectable, but hasn't been as consistent as Rogers over the years. The Redskins could also use Rogers, or anyone, for that matter, considering how badly the Albert Haynesworth situation has turned out. Rogers would be a fair substitute for Haynesworth if he continues to be a distraction. Overall, Rogers would pretty much fit anywhere that his services are needed, if the situation is right.

The "Other" Leagues: The All America Football Conference

The All America Football Conference, or AAFC, was a national professional American football league that began play in 1946. Although it folded only 3 years later, its legacy would be of great importance to the future of the NFL.

The AAFC began in 1944 when Arch Ward, the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, brought together a group of millionaire football enthusiasts to put together a competitive post-war football league. The orginal eight teams consisted of the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, Buffalo Bisons, Miami Seahawks, Cleveland Browns, Chicago Rockets, Los Angeles Dons, and San Francisco 49ers. The NFL took a hard stand against the new rival league, primarily Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall, who declared that the "worst team in the NFL could beat the best team in their league". The NFL was already the older and more experienced league, even though professional football was not the most popular sport at the time (baseball and college football already had that locked up). Several teams even shared names with the local baseball team. It would become a question of whether there was enough interest in such a sport around the country. Although the NFL clearly had its advantages when competing against the AAFC for an audience, the AAFC certainly had its advantages as well. Many owners were richer than their NFL counterparts, and a general sense of well-being and post war gaiety prevailed throughout the country. More college players were willing to turn pro, and many former pros had returned from war service. The AAFC also brought in at least one prestigious coach in Paul Brown, who would coach the Cleveland Browns.

The AAFC got off to a strong start, showcasing a matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Miami Seahawks to open the 1946 season (in front of a record crowd). The score was a 44-0 Cleveland win, beginning the legacy of Paul Brown. The score did, however, prove to be a coincidental, yet ominous, sign of things to come, as there was a clear cut between the elite teams and the average/poor teams in the league. The competing salaries with NFL players also proved to be a hassle for the new league, with only the champion Cleveland Browns (who won the title against the Yankees, 14-9) making a profit.

The league enjoyed a moderately successful second season in 1947, but the gap between mediocre and elite teams continued to be a problem. For the second straight year, the Browns won the title, beating the Yankees 14-3. The 1948 season featured the two strongest teams in the league, Cleveland and San Francisco, facing off in a game of the unbeatens on November 14. The Browns won, 14-7, and again beat the 49ers later in the year to clinch first place in the division. The unbeaten Browns, now 14-0 on the season, faced the winner of the subpar Eastern Division, the 8-7 Buffalo Bills. The Bills were predictably annihilated in the title game, 49-7. The Cleveland Browns thus completed the first perfect season in the history of pro football (aside from the 1937 Los Angeles Bulldogs). However, with both the AAFC and NFL struggling, a merger was in sight, but was not quite set in stone just yet.

The 1949 season began with a major realignment of the AAFC. With teams folding and merging, the league came down to only 7 teams to start the 1949 season. With only 7 teams and one division, the league struggled to find an audience. The gap between good and bad teams didn't disappear, as the Browns and 49ers met in the league's final championship game (Cleveland won 21-7). With that, the league folded, and the NFL readily admitted a few of the AAFC's teams. Cleveland and San Francisco were obvious choices, with the Browns being so dominant and the 49ers being powerful as well as a good West Coast rival to the NFL's relocated Los Angeles Rams. However, the NFL also admitted the Baltimore Colts (not related to the later NFL team or current team in Indianapolis), which raised a lot of questions. George Preston Marshall (remember him from earlier?) didn't want another team in the Washington DC area competing for an audience, but later reconsidered his argument and figured the two teams would make for good intrastate rivals. However, the Colts turned out to be a financially unstable team, and folded after only one NFL season. The Buffalo Bills, another AAFC team, were disappointed that they had been spurned by the NFL. The NFL feared that the weather in Buffalo wouldn't be great for audiences, but they did not explain their decision to admit an odd number of teams, which forced one division to have more teams than the other. Nonetheless, the Bills folded along with the other AAFC teams, and their players were sent to other NFL teams or released (Ralph Wilson eventually revived the Bills franchise for the 1960s American Football League).

The AAFC has had a long lasting impact on the NFL. The AAFC contributed two teams towards the NFL, the Cleveland Browns and the San Francisco 49ers, that still exist to this day. The Cleveland Browns, in particular, played a key role in the development of the NFL. The Browns had signed two black players in 1946, the first to be signed by a professional team since before the war. The Browns also forced the Cleveland Rams to relocate to Los Angeles so as not to compete for an audience. Paul Brown, the head coach of the Browns, would go on to become one of the greatest pro football coaches of all time, changing many facets of the game itself. Browns quarterback Otto Graham is revered by many old-timers to be one of the greatest quarterbacks who ever lived. The AAFC may have been short lived, but it provided a large influence on the NFL that would only be rivaled by the American Football League about a decade later.