The Cleveland Browns put together an excellent 2023 regular season despite some major obstacles. They had to overcome injuries to several key players, including starting five different quarterbacks during the season.
Despite that, the team went 11-6, clinching a playoff spot in Week 17, which enabled them to rest some of their regulars in Week 18. As the No. 5 seed in the AFC, the Browns will be heading on the road to face off with the surprising AFC South champion, Houston Texans.
While people may have been surprised to see Cleveland in the playoffs, they were downright shocked to see Houston there. Despite winning only 11 games combined in the previous three seasons, the Texans witnessed a miraculous turnaround this season led by rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Houston finally has their long-term replacement for Deshaun Watson, who coincidentally enough, was traded to Cleveland. While he won’t be partaking in this playoff matchup, Watson isn’t the only former Texan not suiting up for the Browns.
Another player who made the change is tight end Jordan Akins. Akins spent the first five seasons of his career in Houston before joining Cleveland as a free agent in 2023. He had some bold words about the matchup this weekend, taking a little bit of a shot at his former team.
“They’re a good team,” Akins told Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com, “but we’re a better team.”
Oddsmakers would seem to agree with Akins’ statement. Despite going on the road for the game, the Browns have opened up as small 1.5-point favorites over the Texans. While both offenses are capable of putting up points, Cleveland certainly has the edge when it comes to defense, where they have one of the stingiest units in the NFL.
This will be a rematch of a regular season matchup that occurred on Christmas Eve. The Browns won that game in blowout fashion 36-22. However, Stroud did not play in that game as he was still recovering from a concussion.
Davis Mills started in his place, which means you can basically throw that one out. Whatever the Browns did to game plan for that matchup will be drastically different during Super Wild Card Weekend with the young phenom Stroud back in the lineup.
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