Browns facing tough stretch

Associated Press

BEREA

The Browns have been trapped in the AFC North’s basement for years. This week, they can begin climbing the steps.

There’s nowhere to go but up.

On Sunday in Cincinnati, the Browns will begin a brutal stretch of games that will determine where they stand in their tough-from-top-to-bottom division. Over the next six weeks, Cleveland will play the Bengals once and Baltimore and Pittsburgh twice each. The only break comes in a Dec. 18 trip to Arizona, which will be sandwiched by visits to the Ravens and Steelers.

“We’re going to find out how good we are,” said first-year coach Pat Shurmur.

Or aren’t.

The Browns, who lost their season opener 27-17 to the Bengals, have had a rough time inside the North, where the Ravens and Steelers have bullied them. Even their neighbors in southern Ohio have gotten in their shots. In the past three seasons, the Browns are 3-15 in the division and just 14-41 since 2002.

Shurmur has been preaching the one-game-at-a-time mantra that appears on Page One of every coaching manual. But don’t be fooled, he’s taken a peek at what’s ahead and believes the Browns are ready to face the meatiest part of their schedule.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” he said. “When the schedule comes out, people outside the building probably say, ‘Boy this is a tough stretch.’ That’s just the way it is and then you go and play them out. If you’re in the profession long enough, you coach enough years, it all balances itself out.”

In the next six weeks, the Browns will see how far they’ve progressed — and how far they have to go. It should be a good barometer of their development.

“They’re all going to be great battles,” said Pro Bowl tackle Joe Thomas. “We feel the AFC North is one of the tougher divisions, and obviously Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are some of the better teams in the AFC, if not the NFL. So they’re going to be a great test for us.”

Now in his fifth season, Thomas said his body feels a little worse after a division matchup.

“A lot of times it comes down to who can control the line of scrimmage,” he said.