Bart Scott: Browns Are Missing The Playoffs This Year
It appears even Bart Scott's colleagues think he's gone mad.
OK, maybe not crazy, but Scott did go way out there by predicting the Cleveland Browns won't even make the playoffs. Scott made his comments on ESPN's "Get Up!" program, designed for hot takes.
And Scott, a former Pro Bowl linebacker, gave one of the hottest of all.
“Can the Cleveland Browns live up to the hype? Will Baker Mayfield have more wins than commercials?” Scott asked. “I’ve seen this movie before. Can Baker Mayfield lead a team that has high expectations? I don’t think so. The Cleveland Browns don’t make the playoffs.”
This comes after the Browns actually made the playoffs, walloped the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round, then gave the eventual AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs a run in the second round.
Oh, and the Browns appear to have improved their defense -- their Achilles heel in 2020. So it's not a big surprise that the reaction to Scott's prediction was not exactly favorable.
"The Browns are making the playoffs,” Monday Night Football analyst Louis Riddick responded to Scott. “They’re one of the wild card teams if not the division winner. It’s going to be between them and Baltimore in the North."
Former offensive lineman Damien Woody also chimed in.
“I understand the Browns don’t have this impeccable history or whatever, but come on," Woody said. "After last year, you don’t think they make a step up?”
But hey, once you make a hot take, you can't back down just because. So Scott stuck to his guns -- predicting that the Ravens would win the division and the Browns will finish on the outside lookin in when it comes to playoffs.
Of course, don't call him crazy just yet. If he's right, he'll look like a genius. If he's wrong, by the end of the season, everyone will have forgotten anyway.