NFL: Browns to bounce back in the Big Apple

NFL expert Tom Selwyn (@Tom_Selwyn) shares his expert opinion on the best bets available from Monday Night Football in New York.

Cleveland Browns @ New York Jets | Tuesday 17th September 2019, 01:15 | Sky Sports

So what was supposed to be an intriguing rematch between the top two quarterbacks of the 2018 draft in Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold has been submarined by the news that Darnold has been diagnosed with mononucleosis. He’s expected to miss multiple weeks at least and means the journeyman Trevor Siemian will be under centre for the Jets this week and beyond.

I was leaning towards the Browns bouncing back from last week’s debacle at home to The Titans even before this news and with the line not having jumped as much as I thought it would, I’ll be keeping it simple and backing Cleveland -6.5 at 20/21 (Marathon).

Last week’s performance was not good, nobody will argue that, but I believe Cleveland will put on a better performance this time out.

First, the Jets will not be able to pressure the Browns’ poor OL in the same way that the Titan’s did last week. They have some talented interior defenders, but it’s the tackles that are the main weakness so Mayfield should be under less duress this week and making less killer mistakes because of it.

If he has time, Cleveland’s talent at WR should shine through. New York will also be missing LB C.J. Mosely, who was by far the Jets’ best player last week.

Cleveland won’t be happy about last week from a defensive point of view either, but they should also be optimistic about bouncing back against New York, and not just because of Darnold being out. Jets HC Adam Gase doesn’t seem willing or able to push the ball downfield, resulting in just 4.3 yards per-pass for Darnold against the Bills last week.

If that doesn’t change, it will make it easy for the Browns to key on the short throws.

Not the match-up many of us were looking forward to, but I like the Browns on Monday night nonetheless.