Click on this link to see the record of the Plain Dealers staff. Note that the best record amongst the "pros" is a paltry 7-5.
Week and week out, the so called experts let emotion overrule logic when it comes to our beloved Browns. Football is an emotional game but more often than not, skills beat out emotion on the field of play. This week however look for emotion to finally rise up and favor our Browns. That and another important factor external to the field of play which is the heads up that Houston's Antonio Smith gave the NFL last weekend about the Patriots renewed cheating.
Everybody this week is predicting the Pats to win but there is an interesting bit of information that has leaked into the public's eye. On December 1st at halftime the disgustingly bad Houston Texans were handling the Pats, leading by a score of 17-7. In the second half, the Pats miraculously recovered and barely eked out a win, 34-31. After the game the Texans Antonio Smith accused the Pats of cheating.
If you look at the Patriots team, their talent levels are not in line with their 9-3 record and in the past it is a known fact that the Patriots have employed sophisticated cheating schemes. If you read what Antonio Smith had to say in the link, it is probable that history is repeating itself and the Patroits have morphed their cheating into new areas such as using electronic surveillance to listen in on opposing coaches. The technology to do so exists, but perhaps the scumbag Bill Belichick has invested in duplicating what the NSA does to all of us.
I admire that our head coach Chud looks for every edge, week in and week out. This week, I truly expect Chud to do everything in his power to avoid that the Patriots steal info from the Browns. Without this edge, expect the Pats to be surprised by the Browns more than once.
Moving onto the players that will have to execute come game time, very thankfully Jason Campbell is starting for the Browns this week, and he has looked good in practice. Campbell will likely go vertical a bit more than he has this year to break tendency and surprise the Pats. With Josh Gordon emerging as the premier wideout in the NFL, and the Pats trying to handle Gordon by jamming him at the line of scrimmage but not double teaming him, I expect the Browns to break several big gains. It is worth noting that the Pats have the worst run defense in the NFL and even the Browns with their pathetic rushing attack should be able to help Campbell by gaining a few yards on the ground.
On defense, our Browns will have their hands full with Tom Brady but look for Brady to struggle a bit if the Patriots are unable to decode information that they steal from the Browns. The Browns defense will also be significantly better this week. Speaking of experts who miss important factors, last week, none of the experts, either before or after the Browns game against Jacksonville, understood the negative impact that starting Darius Eubanks had on the Browns chances of winning that game. Football is a game of 11 players vs 11 players, and if even one of those 11 players is not of NFL quality, it's a MAJOR disadvantage. I actually isolated on Eubanks every play he was on the field vs the Jags and he consistently made bad reads that put him out of position to make plays against the run. The handful of times Eubanks put himself in a position to make a play against the run, tiny Eubanks was manhandled by blockers in every case except one where he did make a tackle after a 3 yard gain. Against the pass he wasn't much better. When Eubanks was on the field vs Jacksonville, the Jags were able to run and pass the ball with little trouble because they were playing 11 players vs what effectively was only 10 NFL players for the Browns. This week it looks like Craig Robertson is going to play instead of Eubanks and that is a huge plus for the Browns.
Finally and importantly, football is an emotional game and after Joe Haden's outburst last week and the embarrassing loss to Jacksonville, I expect the Browns to be highly motivated vs New England.
BL Predicts the Browns will pull off an upset
Browns 24
Patriots 16
The BL are 9-3 year to date in predicting the winner of Browns games.
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