Cleveland Browns: David Njoku vital to Week 2 success
By Randy Gurzi
Should the Cleveland Browns be able to steal a road victory in Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints, it will be due to the impact of tight end David Njoku
That means the receivers for the Browns could be ready for some big yardage, right? Maybe not. Last year, the Saints defensive improvement had a lot to do with Marshon Lattimore who won the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award. He’s too good to have another outing this poor. Patrick Robinson is another corner on New Orleans who should play better in Week 2.
They will be on their ‘A’ game trying to prove Week 1 was a fluke and there’s a good chance they play more to their standard due to that.
This doesn’t mean there won’t yards through the air for quarterback Tyrod Taylor and the Browns in Week 2. It may just come from a different source.
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An area of concern for New Orleans on their defense is the linebacker corps. A.J. Klein and Demario Davis both have had issues with covering tight ends — which could be a good thing for David Njoku.
Last season, New Orleans was kind to tight ends. Despite having the third least amount of targets go to opposing tight ends (96) they surrendered the 14th most touchdowns (6). That’s one touchdown every 16 targets.
Njoku offers a big problem for the Saints as he’s hard to cover for any team, let alone one that has shown some issues in this area. For the Browns, they just need him to be up to the task.
In Week 1, Cleveland tried to utilize the athletic big man. He was targeted seven times but made just three receptions for 13 yards. They should try and tap that well once again this week — and if they hope to steal a road victory, they need Njoku to come down with as many passes as he can.
Tampa didn’t attack the Saints much here in Week 1, throwing just two passes towards tight end O.J. Howard. However, both were completed for 54 yards. It would make sense for the Browns to again try and include Njoku in their plans and good things could come their way should they stick to that plan.
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This game won’t be easy to win, but the Browns have the talent to pull it off. They just need players like Njoku to step up and make the most of that talent.