Browns vs. Jets: 3 big storylines in Week 2
By John Suchan
The Cleveland Browns enter Week 2 with a chance at going to 2-0 for the first time in years.
It’s been a while since we’ve been able to go into Week 2 talking about the Cleveland Browns having an opportunity to go 2-0 on a season. Bill Belichick was the coach back then and that team got to 3-0 before falling back to Earth and finishing 7-9.
This year’s team will now get a chance at reaching this milestone when they play a young and inexperienced New York Jets team. The Jets got beat by the Baltimore Ravens in a Week 1 game that was never really that close.
The Browns are opening as a 6-point favorite and Many fans are already penciling in a win but let us not forget that two seasons ago Cleveland was embarrassed by New York in a 23-16 loss. It was a game where the Browns were missing their entire wide receiver room because of Covid, and it ended up being one that they’d probably like to forget.
The Jets have many new players now including wide receiver and former Ohio State Buckeye Garrett Wilson and cornerback Sauce Gardner out of Cincinnati. They have rising stars and if the Browns have a bit of a letdown after their recent thriller against the Carolina Panthers, the outcome could be bad.
The good news is it’s Cleveland’s home opener and that should make some difference. There are many storylines coming into this game that Browns fans will be discussing up to kickoff. Let’s take a look at a few of those.
Browns 3 big storylines for Week 2
No. 3: Browns defense should thrive against the Jets
Last week when the Jets played the Ravens, Joe Flacco got the start at quarterback for New York and threw the ball 59 times. Where was their rushing attack? Apparently, New York didn’t get the memo that they could run the ball occasionally.
They must’ve also forgotten that they had Flacco back there, a 37-year-old quarterback who hadn’t thrown the ball that many times altogether over the past couple of years of coming off the bench. Last season, he started one game and threw 39 passes. In 2020, he started four games and threw the football 132 times. He did half of that in this past Sunday’s game.
From looking back at the game, the Jets also struggled with their offensive line play. Flacco was sacked three times. Cleveland has some of the best defensive ends in the league. Players like Jadeveon Clowney and Myles Garrett could have a field day in the Jets’ backfield. Garrett will be going for a record-setting mark on Sunday, to begin with, where he only needs two more sacks to overtake legendary linebacker Clay Matthews for the all-time leader in sacks in franchise history.
We saw in the game against the Panthers that Garrett can have a dominating effect. Early in the third quarter, he registered back-to-back sacks on Baker Mayfield and totally blew up things in the Carolina backfield. He knocked the football loose on the second sack and almost got the fumble recovery.
We should expect to see Garrett and the rest of the defense trying to create turnovers and havoc all afternoon against the Jets.