NFL Analysis: The country may be waiting for a while for Johnny Football totake over as the starting quarterback in place of Brian Hoyer, who has been better than expected so far. As a whole the Cleveland Browns have also been better than expected, at least at the betting window, as they have yet to lose against the spread despite losing two out of their first three games straight up. The offense has shown signs of competence but the defense remains a major liability that will almost certainly mean yet another losing season on the gridiron, although not necessarily against the NFL odds.
Cleveland was a +26500 longshot to win the Super Bowl at BetDSI with a +9363 price to win the AFC championship.
Brown Turns Green
Cleveland is coming off a bye week that followed a 23-21 home loss against Baltimore as two point home dogs. The Browns now stand at 1-2 straight up, 2-0-1 against the spread and 3-0 over the total. The Browns ranked 13th in the NFL for total offense, 15th for passing offense, 10th for rushing offense, and 11th for scoring offense for a respectable look. But Cleveland has been rendered helpless on the other side of the line as they ranked next to last in the NFL for total defense, 27th for passing defense, 28th for rushing defense, and 24th for points allowed.
Hoyer Excels
QB Brian Hoyer is not going to make it easy on Manziel as far as winning his job as he had a 97.7 QB rating with a 3-0 TD-INT ratio. Running back Terrance West has a 4.3 yards per carry average with two TDs while Isaiah Crowell had an impressive 5.2 yards per carry with three TDs. The offense still lacks a bona fide game breaking receiver however as Josh Gordon continues to serve his suspension.
Coming Up
Cleveland will return to action on October 5 at the Tennessee Titans followed by a home game on October 12 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. For Browns fans and the media the Manziel circus will continue to be the focus of attention, but for rookie head coach Mike Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer the concern is getting a respectable defense put together than can complement a decent-looking offense. It is that offense that can potentially keep Cleveland’s betting value up and sneak through the back door of the cashier’s cage consistently.
