Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah Browns Fans and welcome to week 16 of the season. Sunday the 3-11 Cleveland Browns will face arguably their biggest challenge of the season when they welcome the 10-4 Buffalo Bills to Huntington Bank Field. Game time is 12:00 noon CST and as usual the ChicagoLand Browns Backers/Northside Dawg Pound will gather at Burke’s Public House 5401 N. Broadway to cheer the Browns and share some holiday cheer. The game will mark the first of 3 opportunities for 4 time All Pro and 2024 Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett to get 1.5 sacks to break the NFL single season sack record of 22.5 sacks. Shedeur Sanders will also have another opportunity to show progress in his 5th QB start of the season. In his previous 4 starts he’s completed 55.7% of his passes for 899 yards averaging 7.4 yards per pass and 224.8 yards per game with 5 TD passes and 1 rushing TD against 5 interceptions for a QB rating of 75.8. He’s thrown for a TD on 4.1% of his pass attempts and been intercepted on 4.1 % of his passes. Sanders’ per game stats compare favorable to the per game stats for Dillion Gabriel and Joe Flacco who combined to average 5.1 yards per pass while completing 59% of their passes and throwing TD’s on 2.6% of throws while averaging 175 yards per game. Sunday the Browns will be without TE David Njoku, CB Denzel Ward, RB Dylan Sampson, TR Jack Conklin and DT Sam Kamara.
The Bills offense led by 2024 league MVP quarterback Josh Allen will present the biggest challenge of the season for the Browns defense. Buffalo currently ranks 3rd in total offense (381 yards per game) 4th in scoring (29.4 points per game), 2nd in TD’s per game (3.7 TD’s), 5th in yards per play (6.0 yards), 1st in rushing yards per game (158.5 yards) and 4th in third down conversion rate. Bills QB Josh Allen is having another MVP worthy season, ranking 2nd in completion percentage (70%) 4th in TD passes (25), 5th in yards per pass (8.1) and 4th in QB rating (104.3). He’s thrown 10 interceptions and been sacked 33 times, 6th most in the league. When pressured Allen completes 51.4% of his passes averaging 7.5 yards per pass with 6 TD passes and 7 interceptions for a QB rating of 67.7. Allen’s running ability can be as dangerous as his passing. This season he’s rushed 98 times averaging 5.5 yards per rush with 12 rushing TD’s giving him a total of 37 TD’s in 14 games. The entire Browns team has combined for only 25 TD’s in their 14 games. Allen’s favorite targets are WR’s Khalil Shakir, 62 receptions averaging 10.5 yards per catch with 5 TD’s and Keon Coleman, 36 receptions with 4 TD’s along with TE Dalton Kincaid who’s caught 36 balls averaging 14.5 yards per catch with 5 TD’s. As if Josh Allen wasn’t enough on the Bills offense, they also feature RB James Cook who’s 1,415 rushing yards are 2nd most in the NFL. Cook isn’t real big at 5’11’ 190 lbs. but he’s one of the most durable and elusive running backs in the league with the 2nd most rushing attempts and 4th most missed tackles in the NFL. He has 10 rushing TD’s to go along with 2 receiving TD’s and 8 games with 100 or more yards rushing. His 1,686 combined rushing and receiving yards are 4th in the NFL. Buffalo has an above average offensive line with all 5 linemen grading in the top 50% for their positions according to the stat gurus at Pro Football Focus (PFF). The Browns defense will need to regain their early season form when they dominated offenses before their recent 3 game losing streak if they’re going to contain a Bills offense that scored TD’s on 5 consecutive possessions during their comeback win against the Patriots last week. The Browns offense will have an opportunity to improve their running game against a Bills defense ranked 2nd to last in rushing defense giving up 5.4 yards per rush and 143 yards per game. If the Browns offensive line can protect him, Shedeur Sanders will need to consistently push the ball down the field to open up the line of scrimmage for Quinshon Judkins who currently faces more 8 men in the box defenses than any other running back in the NFL. The Buffalo defensive line features DE’s Joey Bosa and Greg Rousseau who both have 5 sacks and DT DaQuan Jones who has 3 sacks. Their secondary includes S Cole Bishop who has 3 interceptions, CB Christian Benford who has 2 interceptions and 2 TD’s along with former Brown S Jordan Poyer. GO BROWNS…..GO CAVS