Football expert Phil Steele is the owner and publisher of Phil Steele’s College Football Preview, regarded as the college football bible. Get in-depth coverage of college and pro football 24/7/365 at PhilSteele.com.
Browns (+2) at TITANS: The Browns have only two wins in their last 24 road games, so how can I pick them here? It’s simple, as they have the better-scoring offense (No. 12 vs. No. 30) and the better-scoring defense (23rd vs. 27th), the better special teams in my rankings (11th vs. 31st) and with their new head coach Mike Pettine, they have a new attitude and each of Cleveland’s three games have been decided by a field goal on the last or second-to-last play, which exemplifies their no-quit attitude, while Tennessee has been blown out their last three games losing by an average of 22 ppg. Lastly, while the Titans return QB Jake Locker from injury, that may actually benefit the Browns as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator in the latter half of 2012 and 2013, Dowell Loggains, is now the QB coach in Cleveland. Loggains certainly has spent some time with the Browns’ defensive coaches as they enjoyed their bye week.
Rams/EAGLES Over 47¹/₂: The Eagles scored 21 points at San Francisco last week, but were held without an offensive touchdown. Coach Chip Kelly prides himself on his offensive prowess, so getting held to 11 first downs vs. the 49ers will fire up both him and his team. St Louis is last in the NFL, allowing 73.9 percent completions, and that came against teams that currently rank 15th (Cowboys), 20th (Vikings) and 29th (Bucs) in pass offense while Philadelphia is currently ranked sixth. On the flip side, the Eagles have the No. 25 scoring defense, and while the Rams’ offense struggled early with QB Sam Bradford’s injury, they have improved, going from six points and 318 yards in the opener to 19 points and 339 yards in Game 2 to 31 points and 448 yards in their last game.
LAST WEEK (NFL): 2-0
SEASON: 5-3