Are Cleveland Browns headed for a trap game with Texans?

The Cleveland Browns could be heading for a trap game with the Houston Texans after an emotional defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Cleveland Browns gave the best team in the AFC the business for three quarters on Sunday but that doesn’t mean the Browns should take this week’s inferior opponent any less seriously.

Cleveland just lost an emotional game to a team they have been thinking about since January when the Chiefs sent them home in the playoffs on the same field in Kansas City. After such a game, teams can sometimes overlook their next opponent or have less intensity after exerting all their energy to play a team like the Chiefs.

It also doesn’t help that this week’s opponents are the Houston Texans who are viewed by most as one of the worst teams in the NFL.

The problem with buying into them being inferior is that the Texans still employ professional football players whether NFL fans want to believe it or not. They have money to earn and pride to put on the line every week.

Houston also happens to employ several former Cleveland Browns on their team this year. A motivated Texans team facing off against an emotionally drained Cleveland Browns team has the recipe for a good ole trap game.

Majority of Browns fans have faith that Kevin Stefanski runs an operation that wouldn’t be susceptible to such a game but it happens all the time with the best teams around the league year in and year out. The better team is either looking past the inferior opponent or is coming off an emotional win or loss to a better team like the Chiefs in week 1.

Most of the time the better and more talented team wins out in games like these but the trap game is definitely something Browns fans and more importantly Browns players should have in the back of their minds. Cleveland can’t assume the Texans are just going to roll over and die just because the Browns are the better team.

Another added wrinkle to this is the amount of former Cleveland Browns that now play for the Texans. Many of the players were let go or overlooked by the Browns and that could play into the game as well. Among these former Browns are starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor, Terrence Mitchell, Pharoah Brown, Vincent Taylor, Eric Murray, Tavierre Thomas, and Christian Kirksey.

All it takes is Tyrod Taylor playing out of his mind for one game or Christian Kirksey getting a big pick-six on Baker Mayfield to flip this game on its head. This is cynical Browns fan talk but it wouldn’t need to be mentioned if it didn’t happen to playoff potential teams every year.

The Pittsburgh Steelers started 11-0 last season and lost to several inferior teams they had no business losing to and they limped into the playoffs. In 2020, the Titans won a huge game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and then came out flat the next week and lost to an inferior Panthers team.

There’s a reason the Browns are favored by more than 11 points on Sunday and in all likelihood the Browns will handle their business against this awful Texans team. Kevin Stefanski will have his guys ready to roll but there is still that stench lingering out there with all these circumstances coming together. Be careful Browns.

It smells…. like a trap.