It is late December in Northeast Ohio and the Cleveland Browns are once again playing out a lost season.
It is a familiar situation for the Browns, who have missed the playoffs in 27 of the past 30 seasons they have played and are on the brink of finishing in fourth place in the AFC North Division for the fourteenth time in 21 seasons.
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Joel Bitonio, who has seen just about everything imaginable since being drafted by the Browns in 2014, perhaps summed it up best after Saturday’s game against the New Orleans Saints, yet another disappointing loss in a long string of them (quote via a team-provided transcript):
“It is the NFL, (so) games are close.