Jaguars Browns Line

Written by Steve Janus

The Cleveland Browns will look to avoid their fourth straight loss when they host the Jacksonville Jaguars this Sunday. The Browns loss 12-13 at home to St Louis last week, as Phil Dawson was unable to covert on a 22-yard field goal late in the game that could have game them the win. The Jaguars snapped their road woes by beating the Colts 17-3 for their third win in their last four games. Jacksonville held on for a 24-20 win at home against Cleveland last season, but had lost the previous two games in the series.

Taking a look at the week 11 NFL spreads, oddsmakers currently have the Browns favored by 1-point over the Jaguars with the total set at 34 points.

Jacksonville:

The Jaguars have had an up and down season up to this point. While they started out just 1-5 in their first six games, four of those five losses came by less than two touchdowns. Things started to head in the right direction with their huge upset win over Baltimore on Monday Night Football. They would go on the road the next week and lose to Houston by just 10 points, but got right back out there and made sure they didn’t become the first team to lose to Indianapolis.

In their last game against the Colts, Jacksonville road the legs of star running back Maurice Jones-Drew for 114 yards and a touchdown on 25 attempts. With the way rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert has struggled to throw the ball, the Jaguars only real offensive weapon has been Jones-Drew.

Gabbert did have one of his better days throwing the ball, as he completed 14 of 21 for 118 yards and a touchdown, but it’s hard to imagine him doing much of anything against a Browns secondary that leads the league in pass defense, allowing just 163.3 ypg.

The good news for Jacksonville is the Browns have had a terrible time stopping the run of late, and are currently ranked 30th giving up 142.8 ypg. The Jaguars likely won’t put up a lot of points in this game, which means they are going to need their defense to continue to play at a very high level.

Cleveland:

Things have not been going the Browns way since they opened the season 2-1 with a couple of wins over Indianapolis and Miami. Cleveland has lost three straight overall and five of their last six. However, they too have kept things close even when they go down in defeat. All but two of their losses this season have been decided by 10-points or less. The latest loss against the Rams was a tough one for this team to swallow, as they were right there with a chance to take the lead and bring home a win late in the game.

Second-year quarterback Colt McCoy completed 20 of 27 attempts for 218 yards, but continues to struggle to get this team in the redzone. McCoy has just two touchdown passes over his last four games combined and the Browns have scored just 8 offensive touchdowns in 18 attempts this season.

With Peyton Hillis still out with a hamstring injury, Chis Ogbonnaya carried the load for 90 yards on 19 attempts, as the Browns rushed for 126 yards as a team. Ogbonnaya figures to be the go to guy again this week, as Hillis is listed as doubtful.

With the way Cleveland has struggled to put up points, they average just 14.6 ppg on the year, it figures to be a long day for the offense against a Jaguars defense that has allowed more than 24 points just twice all season. Jacksonville is 5th against the pass (189.3 ypg) and 14th against the run (107.1 ypg). One thing that could help the Browns offense is the fact that Jacksonville is without top corner Rashean Mathis, who was lost for the rest of the season to a knee injury.

Betting Trends:

Jacksonville is 6-2-1 ATS in their last 9 games after allowing less than 90 yards rushing in their previous game.

Cleveland is 1-9-1 ATS in their last 11 games following a S.U. loss.

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

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