Three Keys to a Browns Victory Today
Oct 26, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns center Nick McDonald (68) and Cleveland Browns guard Joel Bitonio (75) at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
The Cleveland Browns will face off with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers today, a 1PM kickoff. The Browns are 4 – 3 and the Bucs are 1 – 6 but as we all learned against the Jacksonville Jaguars records don’t mean anything. How the Browns play on the field is all that will matter today.
The Browns are the more talented team overall so how they perform their duties and how well the coaching staff makes adjustments will likely decide the game. Beyond that there are three big things that we think are key to a Browns victory today:
1. Offensive Line Play
It is not an exaggeration to say that the Browns offensive line has not been good the last two weeks. They have been down right awful. That has caused tons of problems in the running game and therefore in the Browns passing attack. The Browns are likely to keep Nick McDonald at center with John Greco back at right guard. Neither looked great last week, along penetration throughout the game. With defenders in the backfield the Browns running backs were in trouble the last two weeks.
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This week the Browns face off against Gerald McCoy and Michael Johnson, who is listed as questionable, up front. Second year player William Gholston is also very strong against the run and could push the pocket from the offensive right side of the ball. The offensive line will be tested early and often. If they can hold up enough to allow the backs to get a little bit of space that would help the Browns offense. If they can get to the second level and get a block on stud linebacker Lavonte David, even better. Either way the line play will be key to a Browns victory.