It’s been 10 years since the Cleveland Browns have had a winning record. The Browns are coming off of their worst year in franchise history and that’s saying something considering how bad this team has been since returning to Cleveland. The Browns have posted just two winning seasons since being reincarnated and have made the playoffs only once in that same amount of time. Cleveland is desperate for a winner, but this team has some major questions all along the offensive side of the ball. Hue Jackson and company will look for answers in their first preseason game against the New Orleans Saints.
This matchup in Week 1 of the preseason will take place on Thursday, August 10, 2017,
at 8 p.m. ET at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Week 1 NFL Preseason Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
New Orleans Saints PK
Cleveland Browns PK
Over/Under 38.5
Odds Analysis
Hue Jackson is still searching for his first preseason win of his career. He was 0-4 as the head coach for Oakland back in 2011 and went 0-4 last year too. Cleveland lost three of its four games by double-digits and failed to cover any spread with an offense that couldn’t score more than 13 points in any game last preseason.
The Saints are looking for a preseason win too. Sean Payton was 21-17 in the preseason as a head coach prior to 2015. These last two seasons he has failed to win a game in preseason, going 0-4 each time. New Orleans failed to cover any of those eight games, but at least would have covered a couple teasers during that stretch.
Player to Watch
How can you not be excited to see the first game out of No. 1 overall pick Myles Garrett? Garrett was an amazing talent during his time at Texas A&M and has already drawn comparisons to previous highly drafted defensive linemen like Jadeveon Clowney and Julius Peppers.
Garrett has a non-stop motor and that has gotten him in trouble a few times so far in training camp where he has knocked down one of his quarterbacks even though it was supposed to be a non-contact drill.
He must be raring to hit someone at this point. Garrett is one of those rare talents with freakish ability that can both effectively rush the passer and stop the run. The Saints don’t have a particularly good offensive line so Drew Brees should only play a series or two with Garrett on the field, if he even takes a snap at all.
Matchup to Watch
For the last three seasons, New Orleans may have had turnstiles at every defensive position. The Saints have been one of the bottom five scoring defenses in each of the last three seasons and that has doomed the team to a 7-9 finish in each of those years.
New Orleans has tried to rebuild the defense through the draft and although it has found some good players, it has yet to find a true superstar. The team is hoping that Marshon Lattimore can be that guy.
Lattimore joins a secondary full of high draft picks. Vonn Bell, PJ Williams, and Kenny Vaccaro were all drafted in the first, second, or third round in each of the past four seasons and the Saints are hopeful that these young guys can start to piece it all together. They need to because they are playing in the most pass-happy division in the NFL.
Free ATS Pick
Cleveland is likely to use its young quarterbacks for longer than normal as it still has to settle on a quarterback. Rookie DeShone Kizer may end up being the Week 1 starter, but Cody Kessler is looking to build off of his decent performance as a rookie last year and Brock Osweiler is in the mix too.
Meanwhile, New Orleans just wants to get through the preseason without getting hurt and won’t even play new addition Adrian Peterson that much. Peterson doesn’t have many carries left in his career and it would be senseless to waste them in preseason. Rookie Alvin Kamara will see a lot of action in his stead.
The Browns are the play here. Getting a home team at a coin flip in the preseason is nice, especially when a team has something to prove.
Week 1 NFL Preseason Odds: Browns 17, Saints 13
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