Mike Cairns: Browns week 3 against Bills will set tone for rest of season

BEREA, Ohio - The Browns have no room for error this week as they come back home to face the Buffalo Bills in a crucial must-win game that will shape the rest of the season.

You can easily argue that this Browns team should be 2-0 and I would agree. When you have a chance to win games, you have to be able to put teams away and finish. That's what the Browns have not been able to do.

I never like to look ahead in the schedule, but a sneak peak at what lies ahead for the Browns after this week and you will understand why this team needs to beat Buffalo on  Sunday.

Following this weekend's game, the Browns will hit the road the next two weeks to face the Ravens and the defending Super Bowl Champs, the New York Giants. An 0-5 start for such a young team would be devastating and this team, which includes 15 rookie, including two of its star players in Brandon Weeden and Trent Richardson, cannot afford to have to deal with that kind of a start.

Richardson said it best: "We’ve got to do it much better this week because we’ve got to put up more points. We’ve got to win. All those yards that Brandon threw for and all the yards that I ran for, it doesn’t mean anything if we’re not winning, so we got a lot to prove.”

Weeden agreed with his teammates assessment of the situation: “There’s so much football to be played, but you don’t want to put yourself into a hole where you’re digging yourself out. Even though it isn’t a conference game, I think it’s still nice to get on the right track. You’ve got to kind of build some momentum before we go to Baltimore on a short week".

I could argue that Weeden and Richardson being rookies actually have that working for them, as they are still learning the NFL game and are too young to let the 0-2 start affect them yet. But when you are two of the best weapons your team has and are constantly under a microscope you grow up fast. How fast? We will see on Sunday.

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