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.
No. 2: Running attack will continue its domination
We all see that the Browns have one of the best running back rooms in the NFL. This past Sunday Nick Chubb was spectacular going for 141 yards on only 22 carries. Several of his runs gained big chunks of yardage as he got to the second level of the Panther defense. His counterpart, Kareem Hunt, ended up going for 46 yards on 11 carries along with having four receptions for 24 yards while tallying two touchdowns. This two-headed monster has other teams panicking on Sundays and if these two players can stay healthy Cleveland is in very good shape to win a lot.
The Jets only gave up 63 yards of rushing a week ago to the Ravens. However, Baltimore didn’t concentrate as much on the run as the pass in that matchup — and they were also were without J.K. Dobbins. This week the Browns will likely focus on using the run a lot to set up and manage the pass. They have a new quarterback in Jacoby Brissett who looked respectable in the win last week but still has a lot of work to do especially with his accuracy.
Chubb and Hunt combined to carry the ball 33 times last week and that’s expected again in this one. Will Chubb go for 141 yards again? It was his best performance in a Week 1 game in his career.
Hunt, who has asked for a contract extension and then asked to be traded could be playing in his last season with the Browns. You wouldn’t know it, as he played past Sunday’s game with the same passion and energy, he brings every week.
Cleveland fans are being treated to something special these days with both Hunt and Chubb lined up in the backfield. Having two amazing All-Pro running backs on the same team is a rare thing in this league. Look for more fireworks down along the lakeshore this weekend.
No. 1: Jacoby Brissett’s play
In Week 1 against the Panthers, Brissett played in his first game as the Browns starter and had some shaky moments under center. His accuracy on several passes was a bit off and that had many fans concerned after the game.
With the above-mentioned running attack that Cleveland has in their back pocket, the quarterback won’t always have to do much, but he does need to make timely throws in key moments to continue moving the chains. Brissett didn’t have a lot of time in the preseason to really get his feet wet to game-speed action.
He has limited his mistakes in the past and been able to manage previous teams he’s the quarterback for and he should be able to continue that trend here in Cleveland. As long as he improves every week, the Browns are going to continue to be in good shape.
At the end of Sunday’s game, Brissett helped move the offense in a pressure-packed situation. That drive gave his kicker the chance to become the hero when he knocked down the game-winner. Those types of moments haven’t happened that often for this team and Brissett was able to deliver in his very first attempt.
No, it wasn’t pretty, but he got the job done. A win is a win, and in this case, the Browns are now 1-0 and have an opportunity to go 2-0 for the first time since 1993.
We’ll have to see if Brissett can hit a few more of those wide receivers this week and be more accurate. It would be an added bonus to have him be able to show that improvement. Each week will get tougher as opposing defenses try and take away Cleveland’s strengths, like the run game. Brissett will need to keep building off of the previous week’s performance to keep his team marching toward the playoffs.