Both the Browns and Jets come into Monday Night Football with 0-1 records and the obvious desire to turn things around. However, there’s one factor that pitches things heavily in Cleveland’s favor.
The Jets’ Quarterback Situation
Sam Darnold isn’t playing on Monday and probably will miss a few following weeks. That could sink New York’s season. Trevor Siemian takes over Adam Gase’s offense. It does look as though Le’Veon Bell will play in this game, which is huge. Bell and Jamison Crowder, who led the Jets in targets in Week 1, should be Siemian’s best friends in a short controlled passing game. Compounding matters, Siemian is likely to be under a lot of pressure and his big play receiver, Robby Anderson, most likely will see shadow coverage from Denzel Ward. Ward followed Corey Davis last week. The Jets were a dink and dunk offense with Darnold at the helm in Week 1. With Siemian, that is sure to be the case.
Getting Cleveland’s Defensive Line Blocked
Not only do the Jets go into this game with their backup quarterback, but they are also at a huge disadvantage at the line of scrimmage when Siemian is behind center. We didn’t see enough of it against the Titans, but Cleveland has potentially one of the NFL’s most lethal defensive lines. Of course it is headlined by Myles Garrett. Garrett has immense physical gifts and is already a fantastic player, but if his technique is refined in his second season, Garrett could rival Aaron Donald as the league’s best defensive player. His new counterpart, Olivier Vernon, is an excellent number two edge player that has been consistently productive throughout his career against the run and pass. Sheldon Richardson has bounced around the NFL quite a bit, but his talent is undeniable and he will be very difficult to double team with the Browns. Larry Ogunjobi is the least known of these four, but that anonymity might not last. These four will give the Jets suspect offensive line all it can handle.
Attacking The Edges
If healthy, the Jets defense is loaded with playmakers and top talent up the middle at all three levels. However, their edge rushers and cornerbacks leave a lot to be desired. That couldn’t work out better for the Browns, whose offensive tackles were repeatedly exposed in their blowout loss to Tennessee. Cleveland probably will have a difficult time blocking Quinnen Williams and Leonard Williams on the interior, but their edge protection should hold up better than it did in Week 1. Quinnen and CJ Mosley are battling injuries though. Cleveland of course also happens to have Odell Beckham at wide receiver to attack New York’s weak cornerbacks that allowed the Bills receivers to run free in Week 1. They also have Jarvis Landry of course, but he won’t operate on the outside nearly as regularly as Beckham. Landry does still have a favorable matchup against Brian Poole. Beckham returns to New York City. Think he might be have a little extra motivation? This could set up to be one of the biggest games of Beckham’s amazing career.
The Gregg Williams Factor
New York’s defensive coordinator just so happened to hold the same position in Cleveland last year. Williams is rightfully known as an extremely aggressive defensive schemer, but does he have the cornerbacks in New York to blitz as much as he would really like? Maybe not, but he does know Baker Mayfield extremely well and Mayfield often looked lost and out of sorts last week with Tennessee altering and disguising their schemes very well. Don’t expect Williams to just sit back and employ vanilla tactics and coverages. If Mayfield struggles again, the Browns absolutely will need to lean more on Nick Chubb than they did against the Titans. Also, obviously the Browns must be a far more disciplined team than they showed in Week 1. This will be an emotional game and Williams contributes to that, but taking 18 penalties was just suicide against a well-coached team like Tennessee.
