Intriguing Game, NFL Week Six
Arizona Cardinals at Cleveland Browns
Cardinals: Whoever would imagine that they would be the lone undefeated team in the NFL after five weeks? That’s the beautiful thing about this league is you never know what’s going to happen. The big question was after the big week one win over the Tennessee Titans, could they keep it up? The zero in the loss column speaks for itself so far. What exactly draws me to the Arizona Cardinals? Offensively, they don’t miss a beat. The weapons they’re stacked with screams volumes to me. DeAndre Hopkins speaks for himself of course. What’s impressed me has been A.J. Green. Maybe a change of scenery was needed for the veteran receiver and he’s known his role and stayed within his box since signing with the Cardinals. Then, I can’t forget Rondale Moore. He’s the electric part of the offense that does everything and then some. Kyler Murray continues to play at an MVP level. While the offense has been solid, the defense has also done its part. Having a healthy Chandler Jones is crucial. When healthy, he’s one of the best defensive players in the league. The Arizona defense can rush the passer, win the trench battle up front and they also have guys who can cover whether its pass coverage or in space. If you said this is the most complete team in the NFC right now, I wouldn’t disagree with you. On Sunday, they’ll travel to Cleveland for an interconference battle.
Browns: If you saw the stat sheet from their last game and still noticed they lost, you’d be appalled, wouldn’t you? They scored 42 points, the offense was balanced with 230 yards rushing and over 300 yards passing nor did they turn the football over! And yet, they still lost! That’s absolutely heartbreaking because with those numbers, that’s a victory and in the beginning, things were falling into place. Then came the second half and everything went down the drain for them. What I like about these Cleveland Browns is the old school mentality they play with. This isn’t your Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills or Baltimore Ravens and I could even throw the Chargers in that sentence. The Browns are a run first team and when they have that ground game going, they’re a difficult group to compete with. This is the best rushing attack in the league. They control the clock and dominate the line of scrimmage up front. I understand its still a pass happy league, but running the football still pays dividends today. Cleveland has no problem with slowing the game down. When it comes to their defense, they’re one of the scrappiest units in the league with linebackers who can play either sideline to sideline or downhill. They can force turnovers in the secondary, but it also helps when you have Myles Garrett creating havoc up front. After a tough loss in week five, they return home for a battle with the Cardinals.
Cardinals X-Factor: Christian Kirk– As I said up top, there’s no shortage of weapons for this offense. Insert Christian here. He’s sneaky with the way he can get behind coverages for the ball. Christian does much of the work on the inside underneath. Whenever any of his top targets are locked down, this is who Kyler turns too. He’s that reliable target over the middle.
Browns X-Factor: Kareem Hunt– He’s one of the other reasons why this ground game is so prolific. Nick Chubb is the guy who gets those hard fought yards week in and out. Kareem can also run in between the tackles and can also catch the ball out the backfield. He brings that versatility factor to the Browns offense and he puts pressure on the defense. Just imagine having to worry about two solid running backs as a defense.
Final Thoughts: Oklahoma Football will be well represented in this one. Both Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray won Heisman trophies while playing for the Oklahoma Sooners and both would end up being number one picks in their draft classes. Outside of Kansas City, this will be the toughest offense the Browns defense will see. The gameplan will start with consistently pressuring Kyler Murray as often as possible. Don’t let him run or allow him to buy time. Also, the Browns must rely on the run to keep that offense on the sideline. For Arizona, I’d continue to stick to what’s got me at 5-0. That’s a balanced offensive attack, a strong pass rush and playing in coverage in the secondary. The matchup I’m watching is this Cleveland offensive line against the Arizona defensive front.
Prediction: Browns 26, Cardinals 20
