3 reasons the Houston Texans will defeat the Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns could be looking at a trap game against the Houston Texans

The Cleveland Browns will be taking the field at for the first time all season with their new starting quarterback, the disgraced Deshaun Watson. Watson is coming in after a nearly two-year layoff and will be facing off with his old team the Houston Texans. On paper, this is an easy win for the Browns.

The problem is, nothing in 2022 has been easy for the Browns. Watson may come out slinging or may come out struggling, and how he plays will have a lot to do with how the Browns do against the Texans. As we haven’t seen him in so long, it’s impossible to know how he’ll play. I would caution fans from expecting his All-Pro form to return in his Week One, and if that ends up being the case, the Texans may be able to hang in with the Browns.

This is a game that has “trap” all over it for that reason alone. Watson’s play will determine so much but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the defense and its inconsistencies. If the defense plays as it did against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, this will be an easy win. If not? Well, it’ll get ugly then.

3 reasons the Houston Texans can get the win over the Cleveland Browns

Offensively off the mark

With Watson coming back into the fold and changing up how the offense will be run after Jacoby Brissett operated more as a game manager, we have no idea what this team will look like. The Browns could come in and be the 1999 Rams, and be the Greatest Show on Turf, or they could be the 2022 Las Vegas Raiders and just be a massive disappointment. It all comes down to how Watson will play.

Defensive inconsistency

As mentioned before, but it bears repeating, this team’s defense is all over the place. They are not a clever bunch, as Joe Woods had to hack up the playbook because the secondary just couldn’t get the job done. It did work, at least for a week, as the defense has looked the best it has all season against one of the better offenses they’ve played. Considering the Buccs basically only threw the ball, we still don’t know if the front seven can do their job to stop the run consistently. They weren’t able to do so last week and if the Texans test the defense on the ground, it could get ugly.

Coaching deficiencies

Kevin Stefanski is the only Ivy League graduate coach I can think of who I have no confidence in. For someone so smart, he constantly out-coaches himself. This may be on display on Sunday as he’s facing a gamer in Lovie Smith, and while no one would confuse Smith for an all-time great play-caller, Smith has succeeded in the past with lackluster offensive talent. So you can’t count him out.