Browns' Haden: Comparisons to college teams 'a smack in the face'

The possibility of a winless season is understandably wearing heavily upon the Cleveland Browns.

Jokes have been aplenty, and they'll only continue to mount with every week that results in another loss, but Joe Haden, for one, has had enough.

The veteran cornerback took particular exception to a Bleacher Report video game simulation which had Alabama, college football's No. 1 team, beating the Browns 34-0.

"Comparing a college team to an NFL team, it's disrespectful," Haden said Friday, according to Pat McManamon of ESPN.

"That's a smack in the face," he added. "It makes you very upset. That's just a slap in the face. It doesn't make any sense. Alabama is great. They've got amazing players. They've got players who are going to play in the NFL. We've got a team full of NFL guys."

Haden, a first-round pick in 2010, is one of the Browns' longest-tenured players. He's endured plenty of losing across seven seasons in Cleveland, but nothing like the club's current 0-12 mark.

"I've never been in a situation like this where we're literally the laughingstock of every joke," Haden said.

It was widely understood heading into the season that the rebuilding process under new leadership would be lengthy, and the results to this point back up that notion.

Despite the standing at the bottom of the league, though, comparing an NFL team to even the most dominant of college programs is ridiculous.

Starting Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, where Robert Griffin III will be back in the lineup for his first start since Week 1, the Browns have four games remaining to avoid becoming the second 0-16 team in NFL history.

A win or two down the stretch could do wonders for a long-suffering organization looking to establish a winning culture.