DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2022 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 27 Texans 14 Browns @ Texans Preview

Browns are 7 pt favorites. The Over/Under is 46.5

Obviously, there will be a lot of attention on this game due to Watson's return to Houston. The Browns coaching staff and players are going to have a tough week trying to keep the focus on playing football. It's not an enviable situation.

Keys to the Game:

--I really have no idea how Watson will play. I think Stefanski can scheme some nice plays that will take advantage of his mad skills. On the other hand, not playing in a real football game in almost two years has to be a factor, right? Also, how does he handle the hostile attention from a mental/emotional point of view?

--The Texans give up 168.6 yds rushing per game. That's worst in the NFL. Of course, teams run more late in games because they have large leads, so that number might be a tad deceiving. The Texans are one team that I really haven't watched this year. I don't think I mentioned them once in the Other Games threads.

--Kyle Allen replaced Davis Mills last week. He threw for 215 yards w/1 TD and 2 Picks.

--Dameon Pierce is having a really good rookie year. We all know how the Browns have struggled against the run this year. I imagine that we will see a heavy dose of Pierce and violent running style.

100% I expect to see some of the rust we saw in that preseason game he played. Absolutely has to be a factor, yes. With that said he is a better athlete than Jacoby and I expect to see Stefanski run RPO's, get him hit, let him run, some safe passes to get the adrenaline calmed a bit.

Watson is definitely getting boo'd. Maybe a lot.

He really is the story of this game for a lot of obvious reasons. The bottom line though, he is flat out a better QB, and a better athlete than Jacoby. I expect to see him get better as the game moves on.


From a team standpoint the Texans are young, they have some good rookies on defense but I am most interested in the Garret/Tunsil matchup.....I think Laremy Tunsil is one of the most athletic and good tackles in the league. Myles abuses maulers but struggles with better athletes. I've seen Myles add that spin move a LOT more this year, way more than other years. Both are in or are close to their peak, should be a good one!

I expect a win. Anything less would be a massive failure. I hope to see a lot of Chubb and Hunt abusing their weak run defense while Watson gets eased back in without having him throw the ball 50 times. I don't know what to expect from the Browns defense.

I agree with this.. we playing an awful run D. I'd like to see Chubb Hunt Watson run the ball till that D is pooped then start some play actions.

It will be criminal if Chubb does not have over 20 carries. Can we ever win a coin toss and defer? Can we score in the 2nd and 3rd Quarters?

I understand your point about Chubb, but I'm hoping we don't have to overwork him to win this game. He's currently 3rd in the league in carries. I'd like to see that number come down just a bit. I've seen too many backs burned out by toting the rock too much.

Honestly, at this point, anything less than winning out this year and a deep playoff run next year will be a failure in my eyes. Coming into this season, some of us expected a serious run this year.

Unfortunately, I don't see winning out as a high possibility, but there will be no excuses for next year.

Browns 24
Texans 35

Watson 3 INT's

Vers may have a stroke if that happens.

Will you please leave me alone?

Most of the Browns fans probably want to see the same thing, the worry is ya know !


I'd like to see more of Ford , Might not be a bad idea to showcase Johnson just to get more interests if he runs well.


It's a Browns game going into a 1-9-1 team at their house with a QB that they may


have a big chip for.

You could leave him alone. You could also quit bring up Mayfield in almost every other post as well. That'd be neat.

Why Vers, why ever would I want to do that? You are the self-made center of the board. And that comment wasn't meant as derogatory, you just have a lot of faith and cred built into DW being successful, and I hope you are right. But if you don't want me ever to mention or address you, just stop the Baker Boys crap; that's the only thing that makes me notice you most days.

Watson won’t be up to game speed, that’s why I think we’ll lean on our run game - to which we are accustomed, so no probs there - and bring him along slowly.

Watson is going to hear it from the fans the second he runs out of the tunnel, he will just have to block it out.

To your point about Chubb’s workload, this might be the game to use D’Ernest more often, especially if we can get a nice lead. He’s been on the bench all year, get him some reps, and take some of the work off Nick’s shoulders.

I hope Woods continues to keeps the D simple. We have a lot of good athletes there, let them play and not have to do a ton of thinking. I don’t know how DW will play, but I think we’re going to beat them with relative ease.

Think a lot of people forget just how good this guy was. He was a breakout star the last time I saw him in playoff games......playoff games.

don't take too much off Chubb's shoulders; I want to see him finally get the rushing title he keeps missing out on due to things out of his control (injuries, covid, etc).

I remember when Michael Vick came back after what 3 or 4 years, he was up to game speed almost immediately. That doesn't mean DW will too but he has been practicing. I don't think MV was practicing, not where he was.

This sucks. I was expecting a huge game from him w/Watson at QB. I even took him in a Full Roster Tournament on FanDuel. Gotta edit it now, but damn, I think Njoku is going to kill it w/Watson.

Is Davis Mills a better player or is Deshaun Watson a better player?

Watson may have a chip on his shoulder.
Urgent, a song by foreigner, lyrics

Awesome! I was at that game. Watching a young Clay Matthews bring down Earl Campbell was a thing of beauty, though Earl still got his hundred yards. He was a beast.

The Biggest non division game of the last 6 weeks of the year.

The biggest referendum on Kevin Stefanskis' vote of confidence going forward in a final non div. game.

The Closest thing to a playoff game for the Texans with a chance to knock your Browns out with an 8th loss

The best chance to keep pressure on 2nd place in your division with a fifth win and 2 in a row. One of the Bengals or Ravens has to lose when they play again.

What statement does it make if you defeat the last ranked team with the last ranked defense in the NFL? That the Browns don't suck even worse than that?

Have you even seen who they are starting at QB this week?

Chubb should running all over them and even a mediocre QB should be able to tear their secondary apart.

A loss would be a terrible black eye on the Browns.

Whoa WHOA , I Juzt looked this up.
Thiz is the only AFC south team you play all year on your schedule, THERE ARE ONLY sO MANY AFC PLAYOFF sPOTZ any year, and any team only @ualifiez for 4 of them, by def. and 3 of those do not involve winning your own div. .. but do involve doing the mozt to win your own div, meaning doing the mozt to ztay in 2nd place, not 3rd place in your own div. ..
What that meanz iz.

When you play the Texanz you are not only playing the TExanz, if you secede for now the title of the AFC zouth div. winner to the titanz
then when you are playing the TExanz, you are not only playing the Texanz

You are alzo playing the Jaguarz and the Coltz in tie breakerz, ... now, I juzt looke up a couple of thing, the Coltz have a tie with the texanz, yet ztill play the Redzkinz,
the Jaguarz have a lozz to the texanz and ztill play on the road at the texanz,

IF< big if, but IF you get in the mix in the final week of the year, the tie breaker against the Jaguarz if the zame win lozz record, and the coltz if the zame win lozz record will be HUGELY influenced by the outcome of the Brownz vz. Texanz game.

When you play this week you are not only playing the Texanz but a hope that the Texanz later beat the Jagz you are playing the Jaguarz in a tie breaker determiner.

And When you play the Texanz this week , and ALZO when you play the Wazhington Football team, you will be playing the Coltz in a tie break determiner of common opponentz at least 4.

this all would have mattered more if the Brownz had beaten the Falconz, or even the Ravenz /whomever they lozt to by 3 or lezz the adjoining week, early in the year about week 3 and 4.

But ztill, you never know, so you have to have this one. It'z very important.

Pluz precedent, you zet the precedent by lozing to a bad jetz team in 2020, then the jetz got better in the 2022 draft and you lozt to them this year for a streak, of 0. , 2
the Texanz with their draft pickz in 23 will probably be better in the future and not zuck the next time you play them zo don't set the precedent. You have to beat the texanz.

Thanks for your response. Based on that I rest my case.

j/c:

Browns -8. The line moved up a point from what I saw earlier in the week.

I expect both teams to try and establish the run early....Deshaun will be eased in early in the game to get him comfortable against a very bad HOU rush defense, and well, The Browns' defensive interior has been routinely exploited against that run as well.

If the Vegas line comes to fruition, at some point there will be Browns separation. If it becomes significant, I wouldn't be surprised to see Hunt get more carries that what we've seen so far this season. I wouldn't be concerned with the carries Chubb gets at that point, but the overall play calling for the run game.

Since Njoku is out, and Watson may need the quick, short routes to get him back into game form, I wouldn't be surprised with the Bryant targets peppered in throughout the game.

I think the CLE defense puts a lot of pressure on backup Kyle Allen and forces him to beat the Browns in the passing game.

Sorry for The Chief's potty mouth at the start, like the hype vid tho.

This is a nice football post.