The home team wins 57% of all games in the NFL and last week the Brown Log wrestled with whether or not to pick the Browns to win on the road. In the end, optimism won me over and I made a bad choice. Cold water in the face!
This week we are faced with a similar dilemma. With the luster of a wonderful but meaningless preseason having worn off in 30 ugly minutes of football in Tampa Bay, the Brown Log pendulum has swung from glorious optimism to total pessimism.
What was most scary in the Browns first game were the following:
-The deer in the headlights look on Jake Delhomme's face after his first interception. Delhomme looked like every ounze of self confidence just flushed out of his face.
-The inability of the Brown's outside receivers to do much of anything. As Rich Gannon pointed out on the broadcast Sunday, even the long TD pass to Mohamed Massaquoi was effectively a blown play by Tampa's Free Safety, who had read the play perfectly and took a bad angle to the ball. I really doubt with Eric Berry roaming the secondary for KC that the Browns will be able to bust anything deep on the Chiefs.
-Peyton Hillis has a very serious case of fumble-itis, and if he cannot hold onto the ball, he really has no value to the Browns (although I bet he is a fine human being)
-The Browns did well in the first half but they kept Tampa off balance mainly by confusing the Bucs with tricks. We threw a bunch of knuckleballs at Tampa. 2 man or 1 man defensive lines and zone blitzes from every angle, Wildcat offense a few times, Seneca Wallace and Josh Cribbs on the field at the same time for a play or two. But in the second half Tampa adjusted and the Browns were unable to do anything. By the end of the game the Browns D was back to a standard 3 man line most of the time and the Wildcat disppeared as Mangini hoped to drain the clock and hold onto his 4 point lead.
With Delhomme out this week, Seneca Wallace might give the Browns a charge, but do look for KC to really stack the line of scrimmage up with 8 men in the box. It could be a long day for our Brownies.
The only factors that cause me to think twice are the fact that KC played on Monday Night last week and so they have a day less rest than the Browns plus we are playing at home after all......
I hope I am wrong this week but I think it will be a very long day for Cleveland
BL Predicts
KC 24
Cleveland 12
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