Can the Browns Catch the Mojo?.....

Positive mojo is a funny thing in team sports. All it is is an attitude. Play to win. Expect to win. Confidence. Of course, it's not that simple. Good mojo is also the result of talent, training, coaching and planning.

The Cavaliers started it all in my city. They were talented, but not the most talented. They fell behind in the Finals. but they refused to lose and became champions. The Indians appear destined for the playoffs this season. Once you make the playoffs anything can happen. So we'll see how far the mojo takes them. But what about mojo and the Browns?

Plenty of good seats available.

If zero is a starting point, the Browns would be at a negative ten.Years of loosing seasons. Not just loosing - historic losing. Most games have become unwatchable. Coaching changes, a turnover of the roster, and a turnover of the front office are regular happenings here.

But this time the Browns are trying something never applied here before. It's a combination of professionalism and new school sabermetric philosophy.The professionalism  refers to the coaching staff that was hired. They are experienced, and well thought of in league circles.

New Browns Head Coach Hue Jackson.

Head coach Hue Jackson has spent a lifetime coaching in the NFL. The players respect him. He had success in Oakland in his brief stint as a head coach. He was able to attract veteran assistant coaches to build his staff. Ray Horton and Flip Saunders also have had positive results in their career. So they should know how to teach and prepare for a game. But it all boils down to the players they are given to coach.

The job of assembling the players for the roster fell to the new-school guys in the front office. These are Harvard educated guys that have strengths in statistics and spreadsheets. Not football lifers like the coaching staff. The new front office guys include Paul Depodesta of Moneyball fame. He has little football experience at all.

Browns "Moneyball" guys Paul Depodesta and Sashi Brown. Harvard alums.

Advanced analytics, or sabermetrics, whatever you want to call it can work. It definitely works in baseball, and is growing in popularity in basketball. Terms like WAR (Wins Above Replacement), and Adjusted OPS+ (determined by 100*[OBP/lg OBP + SLG/lg SLG - 1] Adjusted to the players ballpark of course.) are new-school terms. But we know they are valid because when used historically Hall of Famers lead the way. The all-time leader in WAR is Babe Ruth. Babe and Ted Williams lead the way in OPS+. But does it work in football? Who knows. That is to be determined.

So far, it can be said that the new philosophy values collecting draft picks, and they value athletes. The Browns had 14 draft picks in the last draft. Overall 17 players, or about one third of the roster have yet to play one game in the National Football League. But there are plenty of fine athletes on the team.

Former QB Pryor runs like a gazelle. But can he catch?

Former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor is a great athlete who is trying to convert positions to a wide receiver with the Browns. First round pick Corey Coleman is another wide receiver who dominated in college because of his extreme athleticism, Not his football skills. Veteran wide receiver Josh Gordon is a great athlete/football player. He is also a recovering drug addict. He will be suspended for the first four games. Will he overcome his problems and contribute? Your guess is as good as mine.

The starting quarterback is retread Robert Griffin III. A great athlete. He dominated in college and his first year as a pro. But injuries and a lack of football instincts have put his career on the skids. Can Coach Jackson revive his career? (Or at least until they can draft another hot shot quarterback.)

On defense there are more young players. They have looked horrible in the preseason games. But preseason games can be deceiving. Right now there are plenty of questions, jut not many answers.

But now it's gametime. The games that count start this week. Nobody expects the Browns to be Superbowl contenders. But Browns fans would like to see improvement. Lord knows it would be hard to be worse when you're at the bottom. We would like to see some validation of the new advanced analytic philosophy. We would like to see the experienced coaching staff turn the athletes into football players.

So it's prediction time. I was way off last season. It's hard not to be optimistic at the start of the season. I will say the Browns will go 7-9 this year. That's improvement. I think the coaches can steal some wins on the schedule. I think the new front office will show that they can hit on some. and miss on others. Like anything new, it will take some tweaking to get it down right.

My Superbowl picks? The Carolina Panthers will defeat the New England Patriots. But my big prediction is the halftime entertainment: Luke Bryan and Taylor Swift.