The Browns open as a 2.5 favorite against the Cowboys. I think the Browns having home field is huge for this matchup. This is significant when you look at the Browns changing their philosophy on offense and the fact that Watson has not seen game action since November. Last year, it took time for Watson to get comfortable. Not having to deal with crowd noise in week one is extremely important for this offense. The big question Stefanski has yet to answer is who is playing left tackle. If Conklin can go, it will be a big boost for this offense. On offense, the Browns need to have some consistency in the run game from Foreman and Ford. It cannot be like the end of last season where we lead the league in negative run plays. The quick pass game should help with this. Finally, can the Browns create a few explosive plays to create scoring opportunities?
The Browns defense will be fired up for this game and will feed off of the home crowd. Everyone seems on track to play, so they should be at full strength. Creating a turnover or two and containing Ceedee should put the Browns in a position to win this game fairly easily. They are ready to get the stink off of last year’s playoff game.
As much as I would like to say the Browns are going to light up the scoreboard, I just don’t see it happening. On the defensive side, the Cowboys have a true game-wrecker in Micah Parsons who will be a problem if he is not game-planned correctly. The Browns will have a bit of luck with the Cowboys missing DaRon Bland being out and Trevon Diggs returning for the first time since tearing his ACL last season. Finally, it will be interesting to see how this defense looks without Dan Quinn. The Cowboys have freshly paid CeeDee Lamb on the offensive side of the ball as their X factor. I think Dak is a good quarterback, but this Browns defense should give trouble throughout the game. This will be especially true if the Cowboys can’t do anything in the run game. They have Zeke listed as their starter, but I see him used more like Hunt was for us last year. I see Rico Dowdle being more of the feature back. Other players on offense that will have an impact are Brandin Cooks and Jake Ferguson.
I see this as more of a low-scoring game. Somewhere in the 17-24 range.
Notable injuries
- Browns: Jed Wills – He was limited in practice Wednesday and said he was not starting Sunday. I have to think he will be inactive come Sunday.
Cowboys: DaRon Bland – Out
