Week 1 Browns @ Carolina

Since there are hardly any folks chatting in here, thought I'd start the thread for this week.

What do you all expect for the Browns and Jags game?

 

You guys are playing the panthers this week. Don’t eat no more of those brownies.

 

Well... Browns and one of those jungle cats.

I've got Panthers by a couple scores in this one. The Panthers and Baker have nothing to prove but have a LOT of motivation for this game. For Cleveland, they have a LOT to prove and won't/don't have the pieces to make it happen. Panthers had the NFL's 2nd best defense in yards-allowed last year so I don't see Stefanski's historically conservative offense with a dearth of offensive playmakers and QB talent to challenge that unit.

Jacoby Brissett's last 8 starts saw him struggle to hit 58% completion while throwing for a 73.7 QB rating (1.6 TD% against 1.3% INT rate). As a reminder, Carolina is returning the NFL's 2nd-ranked pass defense. On the opposite side, Baker Mayfield is healthy, motivated, and per all Carolina sports reporting -- looking very sharp.

"But the running game... " I hear you say? Again, flashing back to last season where across the final 8 games of the season the Browns averaged 128.6 YPG on the ground with a 2-3 headed attack, but that came in peaks and vallies. Only 99 yards against Baltimore (1st), 40 against New England (22nd), 89 against Las Vegas (19th), and 93 against Pittsburgh (32nd) versus 184 against Detroit (28th), 219 against Green Bay (11th), and 205 against Cincinnati's backups (5th*).

That wild inconsistency tells me that even when committing to the run, without a balanced passing attack, Stefanski's offense cannot run the ball with success on a consistent basis. Since we have a below-replacement level QB in Brissett and a receiver corp that should challenge for League's Worst when the dust settles, I'm going to assume this is a one-sided offensive endeavor. Unless Mayfield turns the ball over with regularity, this is Carolina's game to lose. Start Cade York in your fantasy leagues.

Carolina 28
Cleveland 16

 

Im thinking (which is very difficult/dangerous for me) that the Browns, even with a sub-par QB (which I dont think he is) are going to win this game. It will be won in the trenches and I like Cleveland ther. The RB's will have a field day that day for the Browns.

Even if the Panthers put 8 in the box, that will only bode well for Brissett. If Brissett plays average and the rest of the Browns execute, I have the Browns with the 'W''.

Secondary must come up big and Baker must be himself and mis-read patterns and overthrow or completely miss open receivers, which I believe he will and the Browms will prevail.

I also think the "chip on the shoulder" is larger for the Browns and we will see their best effort. I also believe the hype from camp and preseason over Mayfield doesnt mean shit... Its a whole new game come opening game , week 1.

Browns 27, Panthers 20

Book it.. lol

 

I’m thinking smoked brisket is in store for the game. Carolina 45 Brownies 24

 

I know you can't change the title but to somewhat satisfy my OCD can you at least edit out the Jags in your comments??

 

Maybe @Campbell can edit the title?

 

I would if I could. Seems that my edit button has disappeared from my previous posts.

 

Well, the thread title has been fixed. My dumbass apologizes and sorry to trigger your OCD @beachbum.

On to my game prediction against the CAROLINA PANTHERS

Okay, it looks like SAS and Gid are leading the charge in the huge bias category. 45-24?!?!? Really Gid?!?!?! I think you're smoking something other than Brisket......

The spread on this game has the Browns favored by 1.5 points. Carolina just doesn't really have a true homefield advantage in my mind at least not worth the usual 3 points the odds makers give...so how about we split it and make it another 1.5 points in the Browns favor? Go see my latest post in the All Things Browns thread for my reasons here for this game. The Browns have their own payback plan going on to complement Baker's. The guy shit on the them on the way out (for good reason in my mind) and the DEF will be gunning for him. He's going to get hit a lot with all that pressure. Oh, that's right......how often have other teams pointed out how badly he throws under pressure? The Browns Top-10 DEF starts off hot. A healthy Brisset performs better than a broken Baker on offense with high percentage intermediate passing and the ground game pounds out some yards. So looking at the +3 points I have the Browns at, after the game gets tied late, the Browns receive the kickoff with 4-5 minutes left and grind the clock out as York kicks a 47 yarder to win the game as time expires.

Browns 23 Panthers 20

 

Part of me thought, "Baker wasn't with the Panthers for long". Then I remembered that Watson took the first team snaps in training camp, not Brissett. So while I CAN see the Browns winning, I wouldn't bet on it...

 

I’m eating smoked brisket for lunch Sunday
Carolina 29 Cleveland 22

 

Coming down off that high are you?

 

Nobody watching the game? Not on here in Columbus and I can't make it out to watch it. Got the radio on so can't really tell how the Browns are performing other than the DEF is on today and the OFF sucks so far.

 

Hot Damn!!!!!!!

I almost had it right. Browns got the ball back with like 1:16 left in the game and York drills a 58 yarder to win it!!!!!!!

Browns 26 Panthers 24

And that was a well used draft pick.........so far.....

(Edit: @gidion72 Hope you started York today.

 

I traded him to Irish. The only reason I drafted him is that I knew he would want him.

 

We beat the bengals but Watt has a peck injury. Waiting to hear if it’s bad or a little problem.

 

Well, the Browns won the way they should. They ran well and JB put together a drive at the end.

Good road win.

 

Hope that's just a small injury. Watt would be a huge loss for you. Hard to replace a player of his caliber.

 

Trubisky was horrible too. Our defense dominated the bengals and we barely won. 7 sacks 4 Ints 1 fumble recovery 1 of the picks was a pick 6. We batted down 4 or 5 passes too. Our offense was disgusting.

 

Didn't get the Browns here and had to listen to the radio. Brisset was barely acceptable. He hit the couple of passes on our final "drive" to Panther 40. Other than that, he was rather meh. Should have had him in all preseason to get some real game time in. He needs some work. Not sure the coaching staff has a game plan figured out yet either. They would run and then just stop and go to the pass and Brisset was lousy early on. Don't think I heard Amari Cooper's name even once during the broadcast and I'm thinking that was on Brisset and not Cooper......but then again, I didn't get to watch it. And our defense played a stifling first half only to start giving up big plays late in the game. Don't know what was up with that either.