Browns Raiders Line

Written by Steve Janus

The Oakland Raiders are set to host the Cleveland Browns in what figures to be another emotional contest for Oakland, who will pay tribute to owner Al Davis. . Just one day after Davis died, the Raiders held on for a 25-20 win over the Houston Texans. Oakland improved to 3-2 overall, and are just one game behind San Diego for the AFC West lead. The Browns come in off their bye week at 2-2 overall. Cleveland will be looking to rebound from a 13-31 blowout loss at home to Tennessee in their last game.

Taking a look at the week 7 NFL lines, oddsmakers currently have the Raiders favored by 6.5-points over the Browns with the total set at 44.5 points.

Cleveland Browns:

The Browns have been a bit of a mixed bag to start the season. They were impressive in their wins over Indianapolis and Miami, but really struggled in their two losses to Cincinnati and Tennessee. My big concern with this team is some of the focus on winning games has been lost to the contract struggles between management and running back Peyton Hillis. Cleveland still has a long way to go before they are ready to compete on a consistent basis, and distractions like this will only slow their development.

While the Browns managed to score just 13 points in their loss to Tennessee, second-year quarterback Colt McCoy threw for a career-high 350 yards on 40 of 61 passing. It’s nice to see the young quarterback show he can take over if needed, but Cleveland isn’t going to win many games if McCoy is attempting over 60 passes a game.

What this team needs to do is get back to running the football. Cleveland had just 85 yards on 22 attempts against the Titans, and currently ranked 27th in the league at just 85.8 yards per game. Hillis had just 10 carries for 46 yards against Tennessee, and you have to wonder what is really going on behind the scenes in Cleveland.

The Browns offense has a great opportunity to get the offense going this week. They have had two full weeks to prepare for a Raiders defense that is giving up 438.6 yards per game (31st). Oakland has struggled against both the run and the pass, giving up 299.6 passing yards and 122.8 rushing yards a game.

Oakland Raiders:

The Raiders win over the Texans last week was a big step in the right direction for this team. Oakland really struggled winning games outside of the AFC West last year, and beating as talented as Houston should give them a lot of confidence going forward.

There is no question the Raiders were playing their hearts out for Davis last week, and are going to have to dig deep to bring forth that same effort against a Browns that doesn’t exactly get the blood flowing.

Oakland is off to their best start since 2002, but still have a long ways to go before they are considered one of the elite teams in the AFC. Despite coming away with a win, Oakland was outgained 473 to 278 in total yards. It was the fourth straight game in which the Raiders defense allowed over 400 yards of total offense.

The big surprise last week was the Raiders inability to run the football. Darren McFadden had just 51 yards on 16 attempts and the Raiders managed just 94 yards on the ground as a team. While Jason Campbell and the passing game picked up the slack in the win, this team is built to run the ball.

McFadden and company should be able to get back on track this week, as the Browns defense comes in giving up 124.5 yards per game.

Betting Trends:

Cleveland is 7-0 ATS in their last 7 games as a road underdog of 3.5-10.0.

Oakland is 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games as a home favorite of 3.5-10.0.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win in week 6 of the NFL.

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