The Cleveland Browns are back to work after their bye week and first up is the Houston Texans. these are the three players to game plan for.
The Cleveland Browns are back and ready to play ball against the Houston Texans in their Week 10 matchup. The Browns are 5-3 and are coming off of their best eight-game stretch in decades. The Texans, however, saw their playoff hopes get dashed in the first few weeks of the season. Now 2-6, they’re looking for a new permanent head coach and answers to how their once-vaunted franchise was disseminated and left nearly talentless.
The Texans have some quality players left, but outside of DeShaun Watson, there’s not a single-player they should’ve kept before the deadline. They’re either aging out or would have brought in a nice haul to rebook the team.
The Browns on offense are looking at a potential record-setting day, because not only are the Texans bad at historic levels, but the Browns are getting back Austin Hooper, Wyatt Teller, and Nick Chubb for the game. The Texans will need to step up just to keep it close.
Still, these are the three players the Browns should worry about.
Zach Cunningham
A jack of all trades, Zach Cunningham is a high-volume tackler, with fair form. He doesn’t throw many arm tackles and because of that doesn’t have a lot of guys break his tackles. He’s already set a career-high with sacks at three, and with J.J. Watt returning to form, Cunningham may be a force to reckon with. He’s moved from an outside linebacking spot last year, to an inside spot this year, and it seems to have paid off with his ability. He may not be a Brian Urlacher or Ray Lewis in the middle but he’s shown to have enough playmaking ability to be a fit.
J.J. Watt
J.J. Watt has seemingly bounced back after another injury-plagued year in 2019. The 31-year-old has four sacks on the year, next to 26 total tackles. Watt’s play on defense isn’t just a nice sign that he’s returning to form, but also proof that he’s doing most of the work on defense on his own. While Zach Cunningham has contributed, the defense is very bad.
The team is dead-last against the rush, giving up 159.5 yards a game against the rush. They’ve given up the 10th most yards in the league against the pass (the Browns are 9th). The Texans are also 4th in the league in points given up with 30.3 per-game. To say the Texans suck on defense is an understatement.
That just makes Watt all that much more necessary to contain. If the Browns can find ways to take him out of the game and neutralize his effect, then the Browns are looking at an easy day. With Nick Chubb, Wyatt Teller, and Austin Hooper returning to the lineup, while the rest of the offense coming off of a bye-week, the Browns offense is looking at a massive field day against the Texans.
Now all they need to do is showcase Baker Mayfield against a shotty Texans offense to help shut the detractors up.
DeShaun Watson
DeShaun Watson is the do-all quarterback for the Houston Texans, and the Texans will in fact need Watson to do all if they’re going to beat the Cleveland Browns. The Texans offensively are a middle-of-the-road team, throwing 280 yards a game. Good enough for fourth in the league. This may make fans nervous that Watson is going to carve up the Browns defense. While he probably will, it’s important to note that the Texans are 31st in the league with rushing, at 87.6 yards per game.
Of that 87.6, about 25 yards belong to Watson. That means the running backs are largely a nonfactor in this game. The addition of Duke Johnson was a hit last year, but this year the Texans acquired David Johnson in the trade with the Arizona Cardinals that saw former top receiver DeAndre Hopkins go to Phoenix in exchange for David Johnson.
The move was a huge blunder and not only curtailed all the momentum Duke Johnson was showing but saddled the Texans with a bad contract for David Johnson, as well as angering Watson in the process.
Now Watson will have to show he can win against a bad Browns defense with next to no weapons besides Will Fuller V.