Cleveland Browns at Jacksonville Jaguars (+5.5)*
Don’t look now, but the Cleveland Browns, after back-to-back wins, find themselves in actual conversations regarding a potential playoff push. This season!
What’s more, the next three games on the Browns’ schedule is so obviously easy, that people are already talking about a 6-2 team from Cleveland! The NFL is always that predictable, right?
Well, if that’s not the kiss of death…
Cleveland will not go 3-0 against the Jaguars, Raiders, and Buccaneers. It was not so long ago that the Browns were the ‘easy win’ on everyone’s schedule. It was also not until Week 6 where the Browns actually beat anyone by more than a field goal. So, slow down, Browns.
The Jaguars’ defense has played better of late – no more than 17 points allowed in each of their last two games – and Blake Bortles, though inconsistent, looks more like the solution than the problem. If the Jaguars can hold the Browns’ offense down – a surprisingly hard task as Cleveland has scored at least 21 points in every game – and Bortles can keep improving, Jacksonville has a chance at an upset.
In all likelihood, this doesn’t happen. Jacksonville is, in almost every statistical way, the worst team in football. But they should give the Browns a fight. Moreover, the ‘obvious’ Browns have every ingredient for a potential letdown in Jacksonville.
Cleveland wins by a field goal, but Jacksonville beats the spread.
