Hi Browns fans welcome to week 9 of the season. Sunday the 2-6 Browns welcome the 4-3 Los Angeles Chargers to Huntington Bank Field as the Browns seek to build on last week’s upset victory over the Baltimore Ravens. Game time is 12:00 noon CST and as usual the ChicagoLand Browns Backers/Northside Dawg Pound will be gathering at Burke’s Public House 5401 N. Broadway to cheer the Browns on to their third victory of the season. The Browns will be without their Pro Bowl linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah who was placed on injured reserve this week following a scary neck injury during last week’s game. Fortunately, it looks like JOK will be OK but he will be spending at least 4 weeks on injured reserve. In addition to the election, Tuesday will also be the NFL trade deadline, so far the Browns have been quiet about their plans for any trades with several players saying they don’t expect any major changes to the team. A loss on Sunday could change those plans though. A day after Sunday’s win over the Ravens head coach Kevin Stefanski announced that Jameis Winston will be starting at QB for the rest of the season. Winston’s 334 yards passing 8.1 yards per pass, 3 TD passes and 115.3 QB rating were all season highs for the Browns who are hoping they can catch lightening in a bottle for the second straight year with a back-up QB taking over for Deshaun Watson. The L.A. Chargers come into Sunday’s game having won 2 of their last 3 games however their 4 victories were against Las Vegas, Carolina, New Orleans and Denver who have a combined record of 10-22. As you look at the Chargers’ sideline you can be forgiven for thinking you’re looking at last year’s University of Michigan coaching staff. In addition to hiring former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh the Chargers also have 5 assistant coaches from last years Michigan staff. L.A. under Harbaugh has the #1 scoring defense in the NFL holding opponents to just 13 points per game. The Chargers are 10th in average number of running plays per game despite averaging only 4 yards per rush and they are 27th in number of passing plays per game despite having former Pro Bowl QB Justin Herbert as their starter. Herbert is completing 64.8% of his passes, averaging 7.4 yards per pass with 8 TD’s against only 1 interception for a QB rating of 98.2. He’s been sacked 15 times, fumbled 4 times and his receivers have 13 drops. Herbert is a traditional pocket passer who can run when needed and he gets the ball out hand in under 3 seconds. One quirk about Herbert is that he throws most of his passes from the middle to the right side of the field. So far this season he has 12 completions to the left side against 34 completions to the right side. If the Browns are going to beat the Chargers they will need to limit their running game and pressure Herbert with their front four. When pressured Herbert completion percentage drops to 49%, however when blitzed he’s completing almost 63% of his passes. His favorite receiver is rookie WR Ladd McConkey who has 30 catches on 44 targets averaging 12.5 yards per catch with 4 TD’s. Herbert also makes good use of his TE Will Dissly who has 26 catches. Browns fans will recognize the Chargers featured running back J.K Dobbins who spent the past 3 seasons with Baltimore after starting for Ohio State. Dobbins is averaging 4.8 yards per carry with 4 rushing TD’s. L.A. has a massive offensive line that averages 317 lbs. and is led by LT Rashawn Slater who’s Pro Football Focus (PFF) pass blocking grade of 90.3 is 3rd best among offensive tackles. The Chargers #1 scoring defense is led by a pair of Pro Bowl DE’s, Khalil Mack who has 4 sacks and 27 QB pressures and Joey Bosa who has 2 sacks in 4 games and a PFF run defense grade of 92.6 which is second among all DE’s. The Browns offensive line especially new LT Dewand Jones will have to play one of their best games to keep Mack and Bosa from wreaking havoc in the Browns backfield. Running the ball will be essential for the Browns to keep the Chargers defense honest especially since they give up 4.8 yards per rush. The Chargers are 5th best in 3rd down defense limiting opponents to just a 32% success rate on 3rd down compared to the Browns who are third in third down defense at 31%. They are also 4th in Red Zone defense. The Chargers don’t beat themselves as they have the 3rd fewest give aways in the league and they average the 5th fewest penalties per game.
SEE YOU SUNDAY and be sure and vote! GO BROWNS….GO CAVS