Opening-day hex?

As a general rule, the opening weekend of any National Football League regular season is clearly one of the league's numerous highlights. The weekend brims with excitement and anticipation.

The planet's most popular sport is back. Everyone is unbeaten and, for the most part, healthy. It's one of the sports calendar's biggest and most celebrated events of the year. 

Unless you're a fan of the Cleveland Browns.

Since 1999, when the franchise rejoined the NFL wars after an undeserved three-year absence, season-opening victories have been virtually absent, acting as a precursor to what has been a generation of abjectly awful football. 

Sunday's season opener at home against the Cincinnati Bengals marks the 25th anniversary since the return. The Browns are 2-21-1 in that time. Makes no difference where they open. They are 1-15-1 at home and 1-6 on the road. 

They were winless in the latter category until last season when a rookie placekicker drilled a miraculous game-winning 58-yard field goal in the final seconds down in Carolina. That one broke an 18-game  winless streak in opening games. Hmmm. What ever happened to that guy?

Home advantage? What's that? There is no such thing. Along the lakefront, it's almost non-existent. And now it's the Bengals' turn to extend the Browns' current winless streak at home in these games to 12 games. 

Okay, enough about these numbers. About Sunday's game.

From what we're all hearing out of training camp the past several weeks, it's going to be a whole lot different look with the Browns this season. What we saw in those four exhibition games from both sides of the football was vanilla compared to what awaits we've been told.

Entertaining, fan-pleasing high-tech, high-energy offense with footballs filling the air. Speed, quickness, play-making ability galore. And that's just the offense.  

Defensively, the unit you see this season will in no way resemble the passive unit that last season pretty much cost the Browns a revisit to the postseason. From what we know about him, aggression is more than just another word in the dictionary to Jim Schwartz. It personifies the new coordinator's approach to the game.

General Manager Andrew Berry provided Schwartz with what amounts to a brand-new defensive line to  help Myles Garrett with Za'Darius Smith, Ogbo Okoronkwo, Dalvin Tomlinson and Shelby Harris, and  veteran help in the deep secondary with Juan Thornhill and Ray McLeod. You can expect fewer blown coverages this season from that unit. 

Back to the offense. 

Deshaun Watson, who has the huddle for the entire season, has boasted, almost to the point of bragging, that "fireworks" are in the forecast. I'm kind of anxious to see how stodgy conservative playcaller Kevin Stefanski makes his offense of the last two seasons look ordinary.

"It's been great," Watson said recently of the new look. "It's been fun. It's been very exciting. And I think (Stefanski) is excited about getting into this week. I am, too." Somehow, I can't envision the even-keeled, unflappable head coach getting excited. Maybe a slight smile.

Watson realizes he has a lot to prove after a disappointing six-game stretch last season after serving a league-imposed 11-game suspension. "I want to go out there and prove it," he said, "not just for people in general, but for myself because that's the type of competitor I am."

No more excuses for subpar performances by Watson in the passing game, not with a talent-laden receivers like  Amari Cooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Elijah Moore, Marquise Goodwin and tight end David Njoku in his arsenal.

Now does that mean less Nick Chubb? Can't imagine limiting touches to one of the game's top running backs. If anything, we might see Chubb more active in the short passing game with Stefanski's desire to spread the ball around.

The Bengals, meanwhile, have joined the league's elite in the last few years under Joe Burrow. That doesn't impress the Browns, who have won eight of the last 10 meetings. Burrow lost his first four starts against Cleveland before winning last December in Cincinnati.

He's coming off a calf strain that caused him to miss training camp, but he has been green-flagged for this one and his entire troika of wide receivers is healthy. The biggest change -- and I do mean biggest -- on that side of the ball is 6-8, 345-pound Orlando Brown Jr. at left tackle. Garrett will be his responsibility. FYI, the Browns have sacked Burrow 18 times in the five games.

As for the Bengals' defense the last few seasons, color them solid, not spectacular. Rarely make mistakes. But they might be a little vulnerable at safety after losing both starting safeties in the offseason.

Bottom line time: As a long-time follower and fan of the Browns, all this talk out of training camp about being entirely different from last season intrigues me. The talent level and versatility up and down the roster is convincing.

But then I remember it's opening day. Only one home victory -- a 20-3 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on opening day all the way back on Sept. 12, 2004 under quarterback Jeff Garcia in a season that ended with a 4-12 record -- to show for the last 24 years. 

Yes, this is a hell of a team now. Although many signs point toward winning Sunday, I just cannot dismiss the opening-game dark cloud this franchise lives under. I need to be convinced. Cade York is now on the Tennessee Titans' practice squad. He won't make a difference anyway. Make it:

Bengals 31, Browns 17