Why the Browns Could Break the Patriots’ Pride This Sunday
The Cleveland Browns are coming off their largest win of the season, beating the Dolphins 31-6 as 2.5 point favorites.
Now they head to the northeast to take on the New England Patriots.
The Patriots are first in the AFC East and are coming off of a dominating road win against the Tennessee Titans as 6.5 point favorites.
The Browns are getting a full touchdown against the Patriots. Generally speaking, in the NFL, home teams are given three points for home field advantage. This would make the Browns only four point underdogs if the game were played on a neutral field.
The Patriots, usually dominant in Foxborough, are only 1-2 on the season there. They beat the Panthers, who cannot win on the road, but lost to the Raiders and the Steelers.
The Browns are better than the Raiders, who lost 31-0 to the Chiefs Sunday and 40-6 to the Colts in Week 5.
Unfortunately, the Browns are not great on the road either, losing all three of their games, and by a lot. To be fair, they lost to a healthy Ravens team, a really good Lions team, and the Steelers. Road divisional matchups are notoriously difficult.
This week will be strength on strength. The Patriots have the second ranked defense in terms of rush yards allowed per game at 77.1. The Browns have one of the best up-and-coming running backs in the NFL in Quinshon Judkins. They also have a run block win rate that is top 15 in the NFL.
On the flip side, the Browns have the third best pass defense in the NFL, allowing 173.7 pass yards per game. The Patriots, meanwhile, have a top ten passing offense, throwing for 240 yards per game. On top of that, Drake Maye has thrown two or more touchdowns in all but two games this season.
If the Browns can control time of possession by feeding Judkins the rock and using Gabriel’s affinity for short passes, the Browns can cover, if not win outright. There are certainly pros and cons to Gabriel loving the short throws. In this game, the pros will be worth it. Gabriel has yet to throw and interception, and against an aggressive defense, taking care of the ball is paramount.
Allowing Judkins to find creases to explode through and allowing Gabriel to find the easy completions will keep that suddenly explosive New England offense off the field, keeping the Browns’ exceptional defense fresh.
If the defense can stay fresh, they can make Drake Maye miserable and cause him to make bad decisions, which the Browns can then capitalize off of.
If you are more of an algorithm kind of bettor, there are systems out there making this line closer to Browns +5, so there is definitely value on that seven while it is out there.
It will most definitely be a tough road test for Gabriel and the Browns this week, but they have momentum moving in their favor. They have an up-and-coming running back ready top break loose, a young quarterback looking to prove himself, and a defense that feasts off of attacking the quarterback and forcing turnovers.
The Patriots are running high on emotion with that primetime division win over the Bills and then the Mike Vrabel revenge game against the Titans. Returning home to face a Browns team not considered by many to be great, could be a sleepy spot for the Patriots, making the +7 an enticing bet to make.
1 Quiet Reason the Raiders' Offense Has Struggled This Season
The Las Vegas Raiders' offense has struggled this season for various reasons, mainly subpar play along the offensive line and at quarterback. However, the lack of playmakers at skill positions, for various reasons, have held the Raiders' offense back.
Raiders Rookies Must Improve
The Raiders invested a second-round pick into drafting Jack Bech, proving how much they believed in him before he ever put a Raiders jersey on. However, Bech must do his part and work through the growing pains only the Raiders' coaching staff knows about.
Bech and Dont'e Thornton were brought in to be two of those playmakers but have yet to make much of an impact. Bech's lack of playing time on an offense in desperate need of help at wide receiver speaks volumes about where Las Vegas' coaching staff believes he is developmentally.
“The more plays that we can log with the new guys, Jack [Bech] and Dont'e [Thornton Jr.], we can show them the things that they need to improve on and the things that they're not quite as sharp on. It helps them. And there's some pain in that too. There's some pain in there that we have to undergo. But it's how you do it,” Carroll said.
“By the time you get to the middle of the season, these guys should have things really cleaned up, and they should be ready to go and we can count on them and they can come through and not be error repeaters, you know? And that's what we're working hard at."
During the Bye Week, Raiders' Wide Receivers Coach Chris Beatty gave an update on the development of both of Las Vegas' wide receivers. If the Raiders can get Bech and Thornton up to speed quickly, it could alleviate some of the issues they are having on offense.
"Some ups and downs. We have got to be more consistent. Both of those guys are learning a lot. Theres good and bad in everything. First couple of games, Dont'e had an explosive play in every game," Beatty said.
"He has kind of fell back a little bit and some of the fundamentals, we have got to continue to build on. Same thing with Jack. They have done okay but there is a lot more out there. So, we will keep pushing them and getting the most out of them."
