If you had Bailey Zappe starting the season finale against the Baltimore Ravens on your Cleveland Browns bingo card then “bingo!” to you! He’ll now become the 40th quarterback to start a game for the team since they rebooted back in 1999.
The Browns are trying to finish this dreadful season, one they’d rather forget about. A promising season has turned into an epic tragedy. The Browns have a 3-13 record, a far cry from their 11-6 record and postseason berth a year ago.
There are many problems for the Browns going into this offseason, and we’ll have plenty of time to discuss those in more detail later. For now, let’s look at some of the bigger stories going into this game in our first and goal report.
1st and goal: It’s time to be Zapped!
How many times in this upcoming game on Saturday will the TV broadcasters say that the other team’s been zapped by Zappe? Bailey Zappe will be the new starter for the Browns season finale. He has a 4-4 record as a starter going back two seasons with the New England Patriots. Two years ago in 2022 he came to Cleveland and helped the Patriots pummel the Browns in a route.
Now he gets an opportunity to play for the Browns against the Ravens. Zappe and the Browns have nothing to lose, especially with their pitiful offense. So maybe Zappe can spark the team.
On any given Sunday any NFL team can pull off the upset win. I don’t see that happening here, but with a name like Zappe anything is possible.
2nd and goal: Browns 20-point underdogs
It’s pretty crazy, but the Browns are currently a 20-point underdog going into this game. There are many Browns fans who agree that the team might not have a good chance of winning tomorrow because the Ravens have been scoring points in bunches over the last month. Plus, Baltimore is playing this game to win the AFC North division so a lot is riding on this game.
The Browns have never been more than a 14-point underdog in any game in decades of playing football. That only happened in 2016 and 2017 when the team only won one game during that span.
The Browns current team beat the Ravens several weeks ago by the score of 29-24. And now they somehow are 20-point underdogs.
This is a battle between two AFC North foes and I don’t see this being a 20-point victory for Baltimore. The team has lost one game this season by 21 points. They lost to the Washington Commanders 34-13 back in October.
So why the oddsmakers have this point spread so lopsided is beyond my understanding.
3rd and goal: The Browns secure the land to build the future dome
The Browns announced this week that the team had secured the eventual purchase of 176 acres of land in Brook Park, a suburb of Cleveland for the new domed stadium they plan on building. They’ve paid a substantial amount to buy the land recently though the deal hasn’t closed yet.
There are many Browns fans on either side of this debate on a new domed stadium being built outside of downtown The fans that are concerned about the stadium are worried about what this would do to the downtown area and secondly how is all of this going to be paid for.
The owners of the team, Jimmy and Dee Haslam have already agreed to pay half of the $2.4 billion price tag. How the other half gets paid is still being discussed by the team.
The city of Cleveland is fighting hard to try to block a potential move to the suburbs. Unfortunately, it’s become a political mess and will likely not end well for the city.
4th and goal: No.1 draft pick still a possibility
Just like if you had Bailey Zappe on your Browns bingo card you probably didn’t have Cleveland drafting No. 1 in the upcoming spring NFL draft. This season from hell will come to an end Saturday night and by Sunday evening we will know if the Browns get the first draft pick. So despite this awful season, there might be a silver lining.
For that to happen, Cleveland needs to lose to Baltimore. Then the New England Patriots and the Tennessee Titans need to win their games on Sunday. So buckle up, get your bowl of popcorn, and be ready for anything.
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