Browns

Jacksonville Jaguars at Cleveland Browns: 2013 Week 13 NFL Pick

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Picks, 2013 Week 13 NFL Picks, Browns, Jaguars, Uncategorized

Jacksonville Jaguars (2-9) at Cleveland Browns (4-7)

One of the most powerful trends in betting is known as the six and six trend, meaning teams who finish with 6 wins or fewer are 25-69 ATS as favorites of 6 or more since 2002. There are two issues with this trend. One, it’s very rare (it only happened 7 times all last season, going 2-5 ATS). Two, it’s even rarer that a situation will come up in which you can confidently use the trend. The Eagles were 8.5 point favorites in Cleveland last year week 1 (they didn’t cover), but at the time there was no way to know that the Eagles would finish 6-10 or worse.

Does this trend apply this week to the Browns? Well, it could. They currently sit at 4-7 and would need to go 3-2 over their past 5 games to finish better than 6-10. For a team who plays 3 of its next 5 on the road and who is 1-7 on the season without Brian Hoyer under center, that could be really tough. Aside from this one, their other home game is against Chicago, which isn’t going to be easy. Even if they win that one, they’ll have to pull a road upset in either New York against the Jets, Pittsburgh, or New England to finish above 6-10. That could be really tough, especially if Brandon Weeden is under center for an extended period of time, but even if the struggling Jason Campbell returns next week.

One trend that’s definitely in play here says that teams are 34-69 ATS since 2010 before being double digit underdogs and the Browns definitely will be next week in New England. They could completely overlook the lowly Jaguars with that game coming up, much like the Texans did last week in an eventual Jacksonville win. Going off of that, favorites of 7 or more are 9-25 ATS before being double digit underdogs since 1989.

Of course, the Browns could be justified as touchdown favorites. The Jaguars may have two wins, but they were both close. Meanwhile, their nine losses all came by double digits and they have by far the worst point differential in the NFL. Also, in terms of DVOA, not only are they by far the worst team in the NFL, they are the 4th worst team through 11 games since Football Outsiders started DVOA in 1991. In terms of rate of moving the chains differential, they are also dead last, moving them at a 64% rate, as opposed to 78% for their opponents. No one else has a differential worse than -7%.

This game has had a big line movement since last week, going from 9.5 in favor of Cleveland to 7, largely as a result of a fluky Jacksonville win making everyone forget how awful they’ve been this season. Teams are 46-68 ATS off of a win as double digits underdogs since 1989, including 25-44 ATS as dogs off of a win as double digit underdogs. You could argue we’re actually getting line value with the Browns and the public is actually all over the dog here.

On the other hand, you could argue some of the line movement had to do with the fact that the Browns have to play Brandon Weeden under center this week. Weeden has been a special kind of terrible this season, completing 51.5% of his passes for an average of 6.00 YPA, 6 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. This is probably the first game the Jaguars have played this season where they have the better quarterback. At the end of the day, I’m going to fade Brandon Weeden as touchdown favorites over anyone and go with the 34-69 ATS and 9-25 ATS trends, but I’m not that confident because the Jaguars are one of the worst teams of the past 20 years.

Cleveland Browns 17 Jacksonville Jaguars 13

Pick against spread: Jacksonville +7

Confidence: Low

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Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns: 2013 Week 12 NFL Pick

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Picks, 2013 Week 12 NFL Picks, Browns, Steelers, Uncategorized

Pittsburgh Steelers (4-6) at Cleveland Browns (4-6)

The Steelers may be 4-6, but they’re better than their record. They are moving the chains at a 74% rate, as opposed to 73% for their opponents, a differential that is 13th in the NFL. They are 4-2 since the bye, after their 0-4 start. They started the season with a -11 turnover margin in the first 4 games of the season, recovering 18.2% of fumbles that hit the ground. Since then, their turnover margin has been +3 over the past 6 games and their rate of recovering fumbles has increased to 34.8%.

That was predictable and they seem to have put their issues behind them, beating 4 teams with a combined 19-22 record in the process, so they aren’t exactly beating up on cupcakes. They did get blown out in New England, but there’s not a ton of shame in that and they could have easily won in Oakland as well, if they hadn’t allowed the longest touchdown run by a quarterback ever and miss several makeable field goals.

The Browns aren’t as good. They are moving the chains at a 68% rate, as opposed to 72% for their opponents, which ranks 24th in the NFL. They have no business being favored here, if it’s only by one point. Going into last week, they were 4-1 when Brandon Weeden wasn’t their starting quarterback, only losing in Kansas City in a close game. However, Jason Campbell fell apart last week, completing 27 of 56 for 248 yards, 1 touchdown, and 3 interceptions. It’s hard to trust him this week. The Steelers should be the right side.

Pittsburgh Steelers 20 Cleveland Browns 16 Upset Pick +100

Pick against spread: Pittsburgh +1

Confidence: Low

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Cleveland Browns at Cincinnati Bengals: 2013 Week 11 NFL Pick

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Cleveland Browns (4-5) at Cincinnati Bengals (6-4)

The Bengals were riding high off of a 49-9 win over the Jets a couple of weeks ago, but after back-to-back road overtime losses, they have been knocked back down to Earth and people have given them the inconsistent label. I don’t think it’s so much inconsistency as home/road disparity. On the road, they lost in Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, and Baltimore and almost lost in Detroit and Buffalo. However, they are still a dominant home team that has won all 4 of their home games, including two against New England and Green Bay and one by 40 against the Jets. At home, Andy Dalton completes 64.6% of his passes for an average of 8.1 YPA, 8 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. On the road, Andy Dalton completes 61.3% of his passes for an average of 7.2 YPA, 10 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Back at home, they should get back on track this week against an inferior team.

On the season, the Bengals are moving the chains at a 74% rate, as opposed to 70% for their opponents. The Browns, meanwhile, are moving the chains at a 70% rate, as opposed to 74% for their opponents. That suggests this line should be around 8.5. That matters because big home favorites usually take care of business going into their bye and it’s important to determine whether or not the Bengals deserve to be big home favorites. I think they do. Home favorites of 6+ are 49-17 ATS since 2002. The thing I’m worried about is that they might not be the same team defensively without Geno Atkins and Leon Hall and that the Browns are a legitimately improved team offensively without Brandon Weeden under center.

The Bengals also might be tired off of back-to-back overtime games. Teams off of back-to-back overtime games surprisingly don’t have a poor record against the spread, going 17-19 ATS since 1989, but that’s not a huge sample size. Also, teams are 13-33 ATS as favorites off of a road loss in overtime and the Bengals are coming off of back-to-back road losses in overtime. They could just be so tired and unable to concentrate for the Browns this week. Also the Browns are in a good spot as divisional road underdogs before being divisional home favorites, a situation teams are 55-38 ATS in since 2002. I’m still taking the Bengals to bounce back, but I’m not that confident. Cincinnati is my Survivor Pick this week though.

Cincinnati Bengals 27 Cleveland Browns 17 Survivor Pick

Pick against spread: Cincinnati -6

Confidence: Low

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Cleveland Browns: 2013 Week 10 NFL Power Rankings (#20)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 10 NFL Power Rankings, Browns, Uncategorized

Last week: 25 (+5)

Record: 4-5

The Browns are 4-1 in games where Brandon Weeden doesn’t start. Jason Campbell isn’t great, but he’s passable and completing 46 of 75 for 561 yards and 5 touchdowns. Like Brian Hoyer before him, he’s doing a great job getting the ball to Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron downfield and relying on a solid defense. As long as he can stay healthy, the Browns should continue to be a decent at worst football team going forward. However, their schedule doesn’t do them any favors, as, aside from 2 games against Pittsburgh and a home game against Jacksonville, they don’t face a team that is worse than 5-4, including the Jets, Bears, Patriots, and Bengals.

Week 9 Studs

CB Chris Owens

Week 9 Duds

RG Shawn Lauvao

TE Jordan Cameron

RE Desmond Bryant

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Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns: 2013 Week 9 NFL Pick

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Picks, 2013 Week 9 NFL Picks, Browns, Ravens, Uncategorized

Baltimore Ravens (3-4) at Cleveland Browns (3-4)

Obviously, 3-4 is not how the Ravens wanted to start the season, but the schedule gets easier from here for them. After being underdogs in 5 of their first 7 games, the Ravens will definitely be favored in at 4 games (@Cleveland, vs. Pittsburgh, vs. NY Jets, vs. Minnesota) the rest of the way and may be favored in another 3 (vs. Cincinnati, vs. New England, @ Chicago). This is one of them, as they go to Cleveland as road favorites.

Cleveland isn’t an awful team or anything, but the Ravens still deserve to be favored by this margin. Both offenses are sputtering, moving the chains at a 70% rate, but the Ravens’ defense has been significantly better, as opponents are moving the chains at just a 68% rate against them, as opposed to 75% against the Browns’ defense. The Ravens should be able to completely shut down the Browns’ offense this week, which obviously gives them a huge advantage.

The fact that the Ravens deserve to be road favorites is especially important because of how good road favorites are off of a bye. Teams are 45-18 ATS in that situation since 2002, including an absurd 22-4 ATS in a divisional matchup. This makes sense as good teams tend to be extra focused and take care of business against an inferior opponent with an extra week to prepare. John Harbaugh has been pretty good off of a bye himself since taking over the Ravens in 2008, going 6-1 ATS and winning all 7 games, including last year’s Super Bowl.

The Ravens could also be in another good spot if they are favored next week at home against Cincinnati. The early line was at PK, but after Cincinnati’s loss to Miami and their loss of Geno Atkins, we could easily see the Ravens favored by 1.5 to 2.5 points, which would make this trend kick in. Since 2002, divisional road favorites are 38-22 ATS before being divisional home favorites. The Ravens are in great position to roll over an inferior opponent here (as they did 25-15 in almost this exact situation in Cleveland last year) and they are my Pick of the Week.

Baltimore Ravens 20 Cleveland Browns 9

Pick against spread: Baltimore -2.5

Confidence: Pick of the Week

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Cleveland Browns: 2013 Week 9 NFL Power Rankings (#25)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 9 NFL Power Rankings, Browns, Uncategorized

Last week: 26 (+1)

Record: 3-5

Jason Campbell did his best Brian Hoyer impression this week, utilizing his two downfield weapons in Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron and relying on a solid defense in a near upset of the Chiefs in Kansas City. Campbell completed 23 of 40 for 299 yards and 2 touchdowns and arguably outplayed Alex Smith. He’s a definite upgrade over Brandon Weeden and not just in the sense that anyone would be an upgrade over Brandon Weeden. He’ll have them an opportunity to play spoiler in the second half of the season.

Week 8 Studs

DT Phil Taylor

SS TJ Ward

Week 8 Duds

TE Gary Barnidge

MLB Craig Robertson

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Cleveland Browns: 2013 Week 8 NFL Power Rankings (#26)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 8 NFL Power Rankings, Browns, Uncategorized

Last week: 24 (-2)

Record: 3-4

The switch to Jason Campbell was the right one. With the Raiders, he went 11-7 in 2010 and 2011 with a team that hadn’t won more than 5 games in a season since 2003 and has gone 10-22 in their next 26 games without him. He really didn’t look good in about 6 quarters of work in place of an injured Jay Cutler in Chicago last year, but he was facing two of the best defenses in the NFL last season in San Francisco and Houston in those two games and he had very little offensive supporting talent around him. He has 71 career starts so I’m not going to base my opinion on him off of 6 quarters last year. He’s decent. The Browns have a solid supporting cast. We saw Brian Hoyer win 3 games in 3 tries with the team earlier this season before tearing his ACL because he was able to get the ball to Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron downfield and rely on a solid defense. Jason Campbell should be able to do his best Brian Hoyer impression.

Week 7 Studs

LT Joe Thomas

Week 7 Duds

QB Brandon Weeden

RG Shawn Lauvao

MLB D’Qwell Jackson

MLB Craig Robertson

CB Buster Skrine

FS Tashaun Gibson

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Cleveland Browns at Kansas City Chiefs: 2013 Week 8 NFL Pick

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Picks, 2013 Week 8 NFL Picks, Browns, Chiefs, Uncategorized

Cleveland Browns (3-4) at Kansas City Chiefs (7-0)

Last week, I took a 3rd string quarterback in Kansas City as significant underdogs, even though I was scared, because they were in such a good spot. That worked out for me as Case Keenum led the Texans to a near win as the Chiefs won by a final score of just 17-16. This week, the Chiefs are once again facing a 3rd string quarterback at home and the Browns, like the Texans were last week, are in a good spot. I actually like the Browns even more than I did the Texans for two reasons.

The first reason is that this line is a point higher. That might not seem like a significant difference, but it is because 7 is a key number. Approximately 8% of games are decided by exactly a touchdown. The second reason is I trust Jason Campbell more than I did Case Keenum. Keenum was a complete unknown going into last week’s game. He couldn’t get himself drafted in 2012 and he hadn’t played an NFL snap in his career. That scared me. Campbell, however, is proven.

With the Raiders, he went 11-7 in 2010 and 2011 with a team that hadn’t won more than 5 games in a season since 2003 and has gone 10-22 in their next 26 games without him. He really didn’t look good in about 6 quarters of work in place of an injured Jay Cutler in Chicago last year, but he was facing two of the best defenses in the NFL last season in San Francisco and Houston in those two games and he had very little offensive supporting talent around him. He has 71 career starts so I’m not going to base my opinion on him off of 6 quarters last year. We know what he is. His career quarterback rating is 82.4 as he’s completed 60.8% of his passes for an average of 6.7 YPA, 76 touchdowns, and 52 interceptions.

He’s not great, but he’s alright and he’ll almost definitely be an upgrade over Brandon Weeden. The Browns have a solid supporting cast. We saw Brian Hoyer win 3 games in 3 tries with the team earlier this season before tearing his ACL because he was able to get the ball to Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron downfield and rely on a solid defense. Jason Campbell should be able to do his best Brian Hoyer impression.

It helps Campbell that the Browns are in a good spot this week, as I mentioned earlier. They are road dogs off of a road loss, a situation teams are 95-55 ATS in since 2008 and a situation which historically covers at around a 65% rate, no matter what year you use to cut off your sample. Meanwhile, while the Chiefs are 7-0 and have a top-5, arguably top-1 defense, they aren’t as good as their record. They don’t move the ball well offensively and they’ve faced a cupcake schedule and they’ve been helped by an unsustainable turnover margin of +11.

In 4 home games, they beaten the Texans and Cowboys by a point a piece and their games with the Giants and Raiders were within a touchdown going into the 4th quarter before a few fluky things busted things open. The Browns have a much better defense than those two teams so they should be able to keep it a close, low scoring game like the Texans and Cowboys did. Despite that, the public is still all over the undefeated Chiefs like they were last week. I expect a similar result and the odds makers to make money again.

The only concern here and the reason why this isn’t a Pick of the Week is that Cleveland might lack enough focus to keep this close. They have a big divisional home game against the Ravens, while the Chiefs have no distractions with a trip to Buffalo on deck. Non-divisional road dogs are 49-76 ATS since 2002 before being divisional home dogs, while non-divisional home favorites are 66-45 ATS since 2008 before being non-divisional road favorites. However, since the Chiefs are 7-0, I think the Browns will be plenty focused. Home favorites who are 5-0 or better are 19-30 ATS since 2002. It’s a big play on the Browns.

Kansas City Chiefs 16 Cleveland Browns 13

Pick against spread: Cleveland +7.5

Confidence: High

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