we want all of them to be incredibly

And this weekend should be a good barometer: It's the first time Buffalo's gone up there as a contender.
"Our view on this weekend is that it's an NFL game, and we want all of them to be incredibly successful," he said. "That we have two teams that are off to good starts has excited the fans, and that's reflected in the acceleration of ticket sales. The excitement in the press is heightened, and we're seeing the things we wanted to see early on. Toronto is a great market."
How soon it, or London, becomes an NFL market remains to be seen. (NFL Commissioner) Roger Goodell told me in London last week that, "We're going to play multiple games over here, and if that's successful, there is a possibility of a franchise here. … Eventually you want to see if we can sell it by focusing on maybe one or two or two or three teams, so we can get to the point where we could have a franchise here."
For as much as we all made about the arrival of Mike Holmgren in Cleveland and the gradual implementation of the West Coast offense -- his mentor Bill Walsh's offense -- the commitment early in the tenure of Browns president Mike Holmgren has been on the other side of the ball.
As Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer noted the other day, Holmgren and GM Tom Heckert have had four top-40 picks in their first two drafts. And all of them have been spent on defense. Last year, corner Joe Haden and safety T.J. Ward came on board. This year, it was defensive tackle Phil Taylor and defensive end Jabaal Sheard.
Seems to be working. The Browns rank fourth in total defense -- interestingly enough, behind AFC North rivals Baltimore, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh -- and it's in no small part due to Heckert and Holmgren's Core 4.
"They're really hard-working guys," Browns defensive coordinator Dick Jauron, who was charged with leading Cleveland's switch from Rob Ryan's 3-4 to his own 4-3. "They continue to play hard, and we've got a long ways to go, we can better, but they're learning. In this game, everyone's good enough to beat you. You gotta be really sound, tough and talented, and get lucky at times. A number of those things occurred on Sunday."
That led to a near shutout -- the Browns beat the Seahawks 6-3 -- and Cleveland's other two wins also came with the defense holding the opposition under 20 points.
But where this story really started was in camp. One of the more startling things I encountered on the trail this summer was seeing Taylor and Sheard running with the first team very early in the summer.