After a double-digit loss at home to the Cowboys, Cleveland bounced back with a narrow road win against the Trevor Lawrence-led Jaguars.
Now, the injury-riddled Browns host the Giants, who fell shy of squeaking out a win last week on the road against Washington.
Will Cleveland continue to buy itself time as it anxiously waits for the return of star running back Nick Chubb, or will the Giants unexpectedly string together a strong enough performance to beat the Browns on the road?
Last week’s game between the Giants and Commanders was weird.
The Washington scored 21 points, all of which came from seven field goals.
Conversely, New York scored 18 points, courtesy of three touchdowns, but because Graham Gano was injured, the Giants were forced to get creative.
First, they deployed the punter, Jamie Gillan, to attempt an extra point. He missed it.
Then, the Giants tried the 2-point conversion on the next two touchdowns, but failed both times.
On the one hand, it was promising to see the Giants gain some offensive momentum with Daniel Jones under center while also making numerous consecutive stops defensively in the red zone.
Still, they allowed a nonsensical 425 total yards of offense to the Commanders, a team with a rookie quarterback and limited receiving weapons.
Meanwhile, Cleveland made up for a home loss to Dallas in Week 1 with a road win last week against a Jacksonville team with some talent on both sides of the ball.
Deshaun Watson didn’t do anything spectacular in Week 2, but he looked serviceable, completing roughly 65 percent of his passes for 186 passing yards.
It was a step forward for the Browns’ offensive unit.
Unfortunately, they were still 2-for-14 on third-down attempts. Yikes.
It is difficult to imagine a path for a struggling Jones and a horrible offensive line, save Andrew Thomas’s excellent play at left tackle, to score against the Browns.
Cleveland’s defense has underperformed relative to expectations so far this season, however, most of the team’s issues have come from the offense’s turnovers and poor starting field position.
Regardless, there is no better time to get going than against a Giants offense that finished 30th in offensive DVOA (FTN) and team run-block grade, as well as dead last in team pass-block grade, per Pro Football Focus, in 2023.
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With the Browns’ consistent third-down struggles through the first two weeks (31st in third-down conversion percentage), it is nearly as challenging to see them having tons of success against a Giants team that, if nothing else, has fared well defensively in the red zone (fourth in opponent red zone scoring percentage).
This will be a nasty game, and neither team will have much offensive success.
Therefore, the Under has some value at 38.5 despite a low total.
Recommendation: Under 38.5 (-108, DraftKings).