Browns vs. Falcons: 5 bold predictions in Week 4

2. Marcus Mariota held to under 200 yards passing

There will be those who want to pour cold water on Marcus Mariota but the truth is, he’s not a bad player. Even though he didn’t live up to his draft status, he’s had some success in the league since going second overall in the 2015 NFL Draft. Coming into this one, he’s thrown for 640 yards with three touchdowns and added 92 yards and two more scores on the ground.

Atlanta did try and land Deshaun Watson and it seemed a deal was in place before the Browns swayed his decision in the 11th hour. Mariota wound up being their consolation prize and while he’s not on the same level as Watson, he’s a scrappy player who has kept his team in each of their three games thus far.

Having said that, the Browns are smart enough to know he can be a problem. They won’t be overlooking him at all and will instead focus on keeping him from getting into a rhythm. It won’t be an easy task with injuries slowing them down on defense but this prediction is that the secondary finds a way to blanket the receivers and holds Mariota to fewer than 200 yards through the air.