Browns vs. Saints – Week 7
The 1-5 Browns head to New Orleans trying to make it to the bye week without any more major injuries hitting the team.
The Opposition
New Orleans: 4-2
Offensive rank: 7th overall/4th passing/17th rushing
Defensive rank: 12th overall/12th passing/18th rushing
All-time record: Browns lead 11-4, with a 7-2 mark in New Orleans
The line: Browns +13
What to Watch For
Clearly how Colt McCoy does in his second game as quarterback. He’s had another full week of practice to work with the first team, study film, digest the playbook and try to build on some of the good things he did last week in Pittsburgh.
While Pittsburgh’s defense is more physical, New Orleans presents just as much of a challenge as they like to bring pressure on the quarterback in a variety of ways. If you were going to pick two teams for a rookie quarterback to learn from, the two that McCoy is facing would probably be at or near the top of the list.
How much the Browns can accomplish on offense may depend on how many healthy bodies they can assemble for the game. Mohamed Massaquoi is out and who knows what lingering effect Josh Cribbs will feel this week.
Peyton Hillis’ leg looked better last week, but you never know. If he aggravates the injury the running game falls to Mike Bell and James Davis, which is not an attractive prospect right now.
After putting right tackle Tony Pashos on IR this week, the Browns will also be without John St. Clair (is that a loss?) so the right side of the line could be Floyd Womack and right tackle and either rookie Shaun Lauvao or Billy Yates at right guard.
So, a rebuilt/inexperienced right side of the line in a dome? Sounds like fun.
Defensively, the Browns are going to have their hands full. Drew Brees is the dogs bollocks and wicked accurate. When the blitz comes – and you know it will – if the Browns can’t get to him he’s going to spread the ball around and really pick the team apart. There’s going to be a ton of pressure on the secondary – even more so than in the past few weeks – to hold up under the pressure and make some plays.
The injury bug is striking the defense as well with Robaire Smith going on IR this week, leaving an already thin defensive front hurting.
The Best Browns vs. New Orleans game I’ve Seen
For a team that the Browns have owned through the years, there really isn’t one game that stands out above the others. We’ll have to go with the 2002 game where Kevin Johnson’s two touchdowns – one receiving and one rushing – helped keep the Browns in playoff contention. Here’s The Plain Dealer’s story from that game. Can’t find any video this week.
The Prediction
This team really needs to get to the bye week to re-energize, re-group and get some of these lingering injuries to heal. The Browns have been competitive every week this season and there’s no reason to think that won’t continue today.
Look for the Browns to keep the game close into the second half but for the Saints to pull away. The Browns are just too inexperienced at key spots and too banged up at others this week to realistically expect them to pull out a win on the road against one of the best teams in the NFL.
We’ll take the Saints and the points.
Record on the year: 1-4-1
Red Right 88 