The Cleveland Browns are finally favored to win a football game, but that doesn’t mean squat in terms of the recent performance of the Browns. They have lost three straight games, their defense has been
more stagnant over the past two games, and the offense had one of its worst games of the season last week. Just because the 1-5 Miami Dolphins are coming to down does not mean the Browns are going to suddenly perform. Take a look back at when the Browns lost to the Ravens — people looked at it like, “Baltimore is back on track, to a degree,” but it ended up being their only win of the season to date. Nonetheless, playing a 1-5 team should improve your odds of getting something going, even if it means the other team is going to mess up more.
Here is what the national media is saying about the Week 7 game between the Browns and Dolphins:
CBS Sports (Pete Prisco) – Browns 26, Dolphins 23
This is the dog game of the day between two bottom feeders. The Browns haven’t done much on offense with Dillon Gabriel playing, but the Dolphins defense will be the perfect tonic. They can’t stop anybody. The Browns defense can. That’s the difference.
CBS Sports (John Breech) – Browns 20, Dolphins 17
Sporting News (Vinnie Iyer) – Browns 20, Dolphins 17
The Browns’ offense isn’t scoring enough to win most games, leaning plenty on dominant total defense led by Myles Garrett. The Dolphins’ defense is leaky and might help them break out of a slump. Meanwhile, Miami’s offense also has been a mess of late, not helping at all vs. an angry Garrett.
Sporting News (Bill Bender) – Dolphins 20, Browns 17
A pair of 1-5 teams meet, and Tua Tagovailoa is on the spot here after calling out teammates following a 29-27 loss to the Chargers. Cleveland has not scored more than 17 points in a game this season. According to Pro Football Focus, Dillon Gabriel is 9 of 27 (33%) on passes of 10 yards or more. Will Cleveland turn him loose against the Dolphins? Miami beat Cleveland 20-3 last season.
Below are our Week 7 NFL staff picks:
