Greeson: Browns' new moves worth watching, like this weekend's NFL playoffs

Cleveland Browns running back Isaiah Crowell (34) stays inbounds after getting past San Diego Chargers cornerback Brandon Flowers (24) during the second half in an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

OK, we're rarely stunned by things that happen in sports.

The Cleveland Browns stunned us Tuesday by hiring two executives. Remember this is the franchise that changes directions about as often as you change socks, so we entirely expected some retread reboot.

Well, the Browns accurately have decided what they have been doing simply is brutal. And sometimes accurate self-realization is a mighty difficult hurdle to clear.

The Browns are going so far outside the box, they will either be geniuses or an unmitigated disaster. And since the Browns already are an unmitigated disaster, well, they have very little to lose.

Cleveland hired Paul DePodesta as chief strategy officer. They already had promoted Sashi Brown to executive vice president of football operations.

In additional to the different titles, the Browns are looking for different ideas.

DePodesta was a VP of scouting and player development in New York. Except he built the Mets into a championship contender. Yes, he's a renowned baseball guy - he was played by Jonah Hill as Billy Beane's sidekick in "Moneyball" - and an analytics monster.

This will be very interesting to see how the transition goes for an NFL franchise looking for an empirical edge both in scouting and organizational structure. That's DePodesta's strengths.

His lone professional football job was with the now-defunct Baltimore Stallions of the CFL. Yes, he played football at Harvard but this is a leap of faith, and a leap of organizational transformation.

And it's from top to bottom, considering Brown is also a numbers guy with a law degree and a background in analytics.

The next big question will be whom will they hire to be the head coach of this mad science experiment? They certainly are not going to find an old-school Bill Belichick or Nick Saban or a guy like that who would roll the dice with his career under such a new structure and with such a huge leap of analytical faith.

We are surprised and intrigued by the moves. We now hope the Browns and owner Jimmy Haslam can have the patience to give this a legitimate chance to succeed.

So with that in mind, let's hunt some entertainment and hope we can continue hitting right at 60 percent against the number.

Trying to hunt entertainment in the NFL playoffs is different than the bowl games because motivation is not a factor, and Vegas knows it.

In fact, in this round of the playoffs, all four of the road teams are favorites. Yep, if that doesn't call for an overhaul of the seeding process, then what does?

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid pumps his fist to fans following an NFL football game against the Oakland Raiders in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. The Kansas City Chiefs won 23-17. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Houston-Kansas City under 41. What do we know? Well, we know that Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith is a game-manager who protects the ball. We know Kansas City's Andy Reid is one of the best regular-season coaches in the modern era of the NFL. We know that Houston is at home, but the Texans got to the playoffs in large part by feasting on the poor AFC South with a 5-1 mark in the division. Two of the better defenses, with two offenses that are (a) without star-studded tailbacks (KC's Jamaal Charles and Houston's Arian Foster had their seasons ended by injury) and (b) looking to protect - and harass - efficient-if-not-dazzling quarterbacks. Hello under. (Side note: We think Kansas City wins the game, and the 3-point line looks pretty good for each side if you buy the half.)

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback AJ McCarron (5) walks the field after an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, in Cincinnati. Cincinnati won 24-16. (AP Photo/Gary Landers)

Pittsburgh minus-2.5 at Cincinnati. Man, if we lived in Vegas, we would not be able to get to the window fast enough to stake our entertainment claim against AJ McCarron making his first playoff start and Marvin Lewis looking for his first playoff win. Good times. It's also easy to believe the Steelers are coming into this game with a comfortability that borders on looseness that makes the game - regardless of the high-pressured, one-and-done nature of the playoffs - fun. A week ago Pittsburgh was on the outside looking in at the postseason, and now as the No. 6 seed with a very dangerous offense, the Steelers get to play the galvanizing "No one believes in us" card.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (3) takes the snap against the Arizona Cardinals during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz.

Seattle minus-5 over Minnesota. Temperatures will be somewhere near minus-20 for Sunday's kickoff. Buckets, that's cold. Another chance to bet against a young quarterback making his first postseason start as Minnesota's Teddy Bridgewater makes his playoff debut. An added bonus here is he is making it against the Legion of Boom - the nickname of a Seattle secondary that has exploited matchups like this in the past. Another Seahawks edge: Mr. Marshawn Lynch - aka Beast Mode - is back and close to 100 percent. Does anyone else get the feeling the Seahawks looked at the regular season not unlike Duke or Kentucky look at January and February in college hoops? Just get a ticket to the dance and when the music starts, they will be ready.

Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) looks to throw a pass under pressure from Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy (76) in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth)

Green Bay minus-1 over Washington. Yes, Redskins QB Kirk Cousins has been an awesome story, and he made himself tens of millions with a monster second half of the season. Yes, Kirk, we like that. The Redskins are at home - and it's a definite home-field edge - and Green Bay has been rather pedestrian since a fast start. The Packers are 4-6 in their last 10 games, and one of those was the Hail Mary game at Detroit in which the Lions remembered they are the Lions. All of that points to Washington. Then we remembered to Discount Double Check the rosters, and yes, Mr. Aaron Rodgers is scheduled to play. That's enough for us.

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6343. Follow him on Twitter @jgreesontfp.

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