Fresh off the bye, are the Browns going to upset the Saints?
This Sunday, the Cleveland Browns take on the New Orleans Saints. Below, we analyze a few advantages, disadvantages, or general thoughts about the two teams before getting to our predictions for the game.
Game Analysis
Eight Games to Go
- It absolutely sucks to be facing your final eight games after the bye week, and feel like the team is out of it. Don’t get me wrong — if Cleveland could go 7-1 in these final eight games, then they’d have a shot. But that would be very difficult to achieve. Then, you look over at the NBA, and the Cavaliers are giving off the complete opposite vibe with a historic 13-0 start to the season and playing extremely well together.
- Nonetheless, it’s one game at a time. There is no such thing as an easy game in the NFL, but the Saints are probably the worst team who Cleveland will be facing during this stretch. There is an opportunity to build some momentum going into the Thursday nighter against the Steelers, and then you can really reverse some of the negativity by winning that one too.
- The Browns are still missing Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, but otherwise, this is as healthy as the team will be this season. They should be fresh with an extra pep in their step against a Saints team that played well in upsetting the Falcons last week with their new interim head coach. The Saints clearly had some issues before that, though, losing seven straight games.
How to Win This Week
- The Saints’ run defense is not good, allowing 5.15 yards per carry (31st in the NFL), and rank 29th in passing yards allowed per game. Nick Chubb’s yards per carry numbers in the first six years of his career: 5.2 YPC, 5.0 YPC, 5.6 YPC, 5.5 YPC, 5.0 YPC, and 6.1 YPC. Through three games this year, he is averaging 2.7 YPC. It’s completely understandable, but Chubb hasn’t been anywhere close to his dominant self yet. I have faith it’ll come back, and this would be a good week for that — I actually think it’s more of a feel/confidence thing than a physical ability. If Chubb gets on track, that could be the unforeseen X-factor that could allow this Cleveland team to go on a run to finish out the season.
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Jameis Winston has to be careful with the football, but that’s hard to do with him because sometimes he slings it and anticipates where a receiver will be, even if it’s wrong. The Ravens blew their chances at picking passes, but the Chargers didn’t. For as bad as the Saints’ defense has been, they are 5th in the NFL in interception rate. They are also 9th in red zone defense, but once you get them in a goal-to-go situation, they are 31st in the NFL.
- Defensively, the Browns have to...
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