Cleveland Browns: 5 Bold predictions vs. Saints in Week 16

Cleveland Browns bold prediction No. 4: Saints held to 80 yards rushing

So this one might feel really bold considering how bad the Cleveland rushing attack has been this season. And while they’ve shown improvement overall on defense in recent weeks, they still have been gashed on the ground.

In Week 14, the Bengals had 136 yards on 26 carries with Joe Mixon accounting for 96 of those yards on just 14 attempts. Then in Week 15, despite getting a win over the Ravens, Cleveland was gashed for 198 yards on 28 attempts. This time, J.K. Dobbins did the majority of the damage, gaining 125 yards in just 13 rushes.

As frustrating as that has been, there’s a reason to be optimistic in Week 16. Despite having a big name at running back in Alvin Kamara, the Saints haven’t been good on the ground this season. They enter this game with just 1,558 yards which is 21st in the NFL.

Kamara has been their top runner still but he has just 641 yards and a single touchdown while averaging only 3.9 yards per attempt. They also brought back Mark Ingram but he’s not lighting it up either with 233 yards and a touchdown with an average of 3.8 yards per run.

In fact, their most effective runner is Taysom Hill, who is going for 6.6 yards per attempt with 449 yards and five touchdowns. However, he’s never been asked to do more than be a gadget player and goal-line back, so he shouldn’t be too big of a threat overall.

With all that being added together, look for the Browns’ defense to play well and hole New Orleans to 80 yards or fewer on the ground.