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John Dorsey: Prime-time games give country chance to see fans’ passion for Browns football

General manager John Dorsey believes the prime-time games give the country a chance to see the fans’ passion for Cleveland Browns football.

CLEVELAND — The National Football League released the 2019 schedule on Wednesday night, and the Cleveland Browns found themselves in an unfamiliar position…as a team set to be featured in at least four prime-time games this fall.

The Browns will play two Monday Night Football games on the road and host both a Thursday Night Football contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 11 and a return to Sunday Night Football against the reigning NFC Champion Los Angeles Rams.

“I think the players get excited to play in prime time as they say, prime-time football, but I think it also gives the country a chance to see, when we play home at FirstEnergy, how passionate the fan base truly is and how exciting football is here in Cleveland,” GM John Dorsey said in his presence-draft media conference at team headquarters Thursday.

Credit: AP
Fans cheer in the Dawg Pound end zone seats during an NFL football game between the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2017, in Cleveland. The Jets won 17-14. (AP Photo/David Richard)

With quarterback Baker Mayfield emerging as the emotional and on-field leader for the Browns during the 2018 season and the addition of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in an offseason trade with the New York Giants, the eyes of the football world are on Northeast Ohio.

And the Browns better get used to that feeling because the 2019 schedule is full of prime-time action, as half of their regular-season games start at 4:05 or later on the East Coast.

“I would think stay consistent, stay consistent with how you approach each game, stay consistent in your routine moving forward and make sure there’s attention to detail in terms of how you address each one of these games, week in and week out,” Dorsey said of handling the unconventional times on the schedule.

“Don’t look too far ahead and concentrate at the task at hand, and that’s that first game. Let’s concentrate on that task.”

Credit: David Zalubowski
Cleveland Browns fans cheer during the second half of a prime-time game against the Denver Broncos at Denver Broncos Stadium at Mile High in Denver on Saturday, December 15, 2018.

While the NFL showed confidence in the Browns by booking four prime-time games, including three appearances on national television in the first five weeks of the season, Dorsey knows that means little if the team does not deliver victories on game day.

“It’s heightened,” Dorsey said of the hype surrounding the team. “That’s what it is. Football’s played in the fall, the last I see. Now, you’ve got to go to training camp and you’ve got to earn the respect that everybody’s talking about.

“How do you do that? You have 53 guys with a single mindset and collectivism of driving this thing forward. That’s what it is. Games are won and lost in the fall, and that’s how you’re going to approach this thing. I mean, I’ve always lived by the mantra of ‘1-0.’ It’s one game at a time, and you have to live that.”

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