BEREA, OHIO– With the AFC Playoff race heating up, the Browns face a huge test on Sunday.
7-5 Cleveland plays Jacksonville, which is 8-4. The Browns are presently seeded fifth in the AFC Playoffs. They’re also second in the AFC North, trailing the 9-3 Ravens but ahead of the 7-6 Steelers, who were defeated by the Patriots on Thursday. The Jaguars are presently the conference’s fourth seed and lead the AFC South at 8-4.
Both teams enter this week with some quarterback uncertainty due to injury. Neither team has named a starter and likely won’t until game time, with Trevor Lawrence working his way back from an ankle injury and the Browns staying quiet on starting Joe Flacco or Dorian Thompson Robinson.
Here are three storylines to know ahead of the game, as well as predictions on how I think each might turn out:
Can the defensive line rebound?
The Browns defensive line has gone two full games without getting a sack — the last one came with about nine minutes to go against the Steelers when Myles Garrett sacked Kenny Pickett.
Last week against the Rams, it was the first time all season that the Browns defense failed to register a sack.
“Us not having them for the past two weeks, it is definitely our fault up front,” Za’Darius Smith said this week. “So we just got to figure it out, man. We’ll just keep working each and every day to get better, to try to make more.”
How I think it will turn out: The Browns are going to be reinvigorated by returning back home, and I think the D-line will have an advantage this week if Lawrence plays after injuring his ankle Monday night against the Bengals.
Lawrence presumably won’t be as mobile if he does make it out there.
“Everybody’s licking their chops because we all know he’s not going to be able to move how he’s supposed to because he’s coming off an ankle sprain,” said Smith. “But if they go to last week, man, they probably try to get the ball out fast and do more chips on the edge just to try to slow us down. So we just got to keep practicing man and get better at him.”
What will the Browns pass game look like?
Amari Cooper is questionable heading into this one, working his way out of the concussion protocol after taking a hard hit against the Rams last week. He did return to practice on Friday, a bit of good news.
So much of what the Browns do through the air is built around Cooper and his precise route running. He’s first on the team with 799 receiving yards, and is second with 50 catches. He’s tied for second with two TD catches.
“He’s a special player,” Joe Flacco said Thursday. “He definitely pops off the screen, just the way he runs his routes and catches the football. So I’m really rooting for him to get out there and help this team out. He’s a big deal.”
How I think it will turn out: If Cooper does play, expect him and Flacco to have more chemistry this time out. If he doesn’t, the Browns will likely do what they did last week in L.A. and get Elijah Moore involved in that more traditional X receiver role. He and Flacco played together last season with the Jets and in Moore’s 83-yard performance against the Rams you got to see that connection. If Cooper doesn’t play the Browns will also need more out of David Njoku, who has had problems dropping the ball in recent weeks.
How will Joe Flacco look?
It’s been the question of the week for Cleveland: Who will start at quarterback?
And it’s a question that continues into the weekend.
The Browns are still saying mum as Dorian Thompson-Robinson is now out of the concussion protocol — but all signs are pointing to Flacco, who got the first reps in drills throughout the early portion of practice open to media.
How I think it will turn out: Assuming Flacco starts, he should look a lot better and more comfortable in this system. One week can do a world of difference, even for a vet.
“I had that first week that I was here where I wasn’t active at all to kind of break myself in,” Flacco said. “So every week kind of gets you a little bit more comfortable, but I don’t really think it’s necessarily the process. I think it’s just kind of now getting with the individual guys and getting the feel for the little details more so than the big-picture plan.”
Because Flacco has a gunslinger mentality, he will always be thrown to picks, so that’s certainly noteworthy against the team that’s in a four-way tie for second place with 21 takeaways this season. However, Jacksonville’s passing defense is the third-worst in the league, giving up an average of 261.7 yards per game.
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