Pats Pulpit
Straight off their third straight road victory in a row, the New England Patriots will finally return to their Gillette Stadium home in Week 8. In order to keep their current win streak alive and improve to 6-2 on the year, however, they will have to go up against a team that is superior to their two most recent opponents (New Orleans, Tennessee) and definitively capable of creating some issues.
Well, in parts. Let us explain.
The Browns are off to another disappointing start, winning just two of their first seven games and looking all sorts out of sync particularly on offense. The numbers, at least on that side of the ball do therefore not look particularly pretty — something that cannot be said for the team’s defense.
Record: 2-5 (3rd AFC North)
Scoring differential: -39 (25th)
Turnover differential: 0 (t-14th)
Offense: 16.1 points/game (30th), 270.7 yards/game (30th), 8 giveaways (t-13th), -0.137 EPA/play (30th), -0.184 EPA/dropback (31st), -0.050 EPA/run (16th)
Defense: 21.7 points/game (t-13th), 256.1 yards/game (1st), 8 takeaways (t-13th), -0.069 EPA/play (3rd), 0.027 EPA/dropback (8th), -0.214 EPA/run (2nd)
As can be seen, Cleveland fields one of the better defensive units in the NFL (which is not a surprise given the personnel we will discuss momentarily) — a group capable against both the run and the pass and mightily efficient across the board. Unfortunately for coordinator Jim Schwartz and company, the entire group is being held back by the other side of the ball: the Browns’ offense has been bad.
Starting out with Joe Flacco as quarterback, who has since been traded to Cincinnati, the unit stumbled out of the gate. Flacco has since been replaced by rookie Dillon Gabriel, who may not have the same level of experience but who made fewer back-breaking mistakes when on the field. As a consequence, the unit started showing some signs of life in last week’s win over Miami, but its ability to sustain that success can be questioned given the overall performance so far this season.
As mentioned above, the Browns won just two of their seven games so far. Their most recent victory came just this Sunday, and in blowout fashion: Cleveland left the moribund Dolphins no chance in a 31-6 victory (that was in large part due to Miami’s inability to shoot itself in the foot).
Week 1: 17-16 loss vs. Cincinnati Bengals (0-1)
Week 2: 41-17 loss at Baltimore Ravens (0-2)
Week 3: 13-10 win vs. Green Bay Packers (1-2)
Week 4: 34-10 loss at Detroit Lions (1-3)
Week 5: 21-17 loss vs. Minnesota Vikings (1-4)
Week 6: 23-9 loss at Pittsburgh Steelers (1-5)
Week 7: 31-6 win vs. Miami Dolphins (2-5)
The Browns started out with a close loss to the pre-Joe Burrow injury Bengals, followed by a blowout against Baltimore. In Week 3, the team achieved an upset win over the Packers before a three-game losing streak that saw a change at quarterback — Dillon Gabriel was inserted in...
