3 reasons the Cleveland Browns will beat the Patriots in Week 6
By John Suchan
The Cleveland Browns host the New England Patriots on Sunday and are in need of a win. Here are three reasons to believe they will walk away victorious.
Week 6 is going to be a challenge for the Cleveland Browns, who look to end a two-game losing skid. Cleveland faces the New England Patriots, who are coming off a victory against the Detroit Lions where they shut them out 29-0. They also ran wild against them with 176 yards on the ground.
That’s not the type of news Browns fans want to hear at this moment after this defense has been shredded by their opponent’s rushing attack the past couple of games. Cleveland has been exposed by giving up 440 yards on the ground in the last two weeks alone.
With that grim look back, it’s difficult to see that despite all of this the Browns still have an excellent chance at scoring the win this week. Let’s take a look now at three reasons they will beat New England
3 reasons the Cleveland Browns will beat the New England Patriots
No. 3: The Browns have been in every game
The mistakes Cleveland has made over the last few weeks to deny them victories have been a difficult pill to swallow. Wins have been there for the taking but every week we see this team beating themselves.
In last week’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, Cleveland had two opportunities late to win. However, quarterback Jacoby Brissett, thought he had wide receiver Amari Cooper open in the back of the endzone but he didn’t account for a defender in between him and Cooper and threw the interception instead.
The Browns got the ball back again in the closing minute already in field goal range but decided to run a series of bizarre offensive plays which left the kicker Cade York a more difficult 54-yard attempt that he missed.
That idea of beating themselves also involves the coaches. Too often it seems they’re trying too hard or getting too cute with the playcalling. In this last game, Kevin Stefanski was facing a 4th down and 1 on their own side of the field. Stefanski has called on Brissett to lean forward on quarterback sneaks multiple times before with success.
Instead of going with what’s worked, he tried a play where he gave a handoff to running back Kareem Hunt on a counter player that was immediately blown up by the Chargers’ defense.
Sticking to what is working is always a good philosophy for a coach so trying something new in those big moments might not be the best plan. If this coach and team can stay focused Sunday and not beat themselves they’ll win.