Cleveland Browns

Browns at Dolphins: Game preview, odds, and prediction

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The 0-2 Cleveland Browns will head to Miami to take on the 0-2 Miami Dolphins in their home opener on Sunday.

A battle between two of the games worse team’s will take place on Sunday as each team will try and get their first win of the season. Which 0-2 team is in worse shape? The obvious answer is Cleveland but it’s closer than you would think. Quite honestly, I’ve given up on Tannehill. I don’t care how many yards he’s thrown in his five-year career. The man has failed to take this team to the playoffs and is 29-37 as the team’s starting quarterback. Say what you want about Tannehill, but he doesn’t appear to be the savior for this franchise.

A lot of people thought new head coach Adam Gase would be the quarterback whisper that Tannehill needed. While this may or may not be the case, Tannehill hasn’t had a good start to the season, granted he’s faced two of the league’s premiere secondaries. Is it premature of me to think this guy isn’t the solution at quarterback? Yeah probably. But I’ve seen enough of the guy in his five years to know what I’m getting from him.

Regardless of his performance against Cleveland, it’ll take a lot more for me to be convinced that Tannehill can turn this ship around in Miami, where the Dolphins haven’t made the playoffs since 2008, a year after going 1-15.

Turning the page to the Browns. Good thing LeBron James and company came back and won the NBA Finals, because the Browns sure as hell won’t be bringing anything to Cleveland other than a bunch of lopsided wins, well sorta. They should’ve won last week in their home opener against Baltimore after leading 20-0 at one point. Cody Kessler, the former USC standout will start his first NFL game against Miami. The rookie will face a stellar front four that Miami has. The Dolphins have five sacks on the season, but they’ve also given up five as well.

Oh yeah I nearly forgot, their star wideout and first round pick this year broke his hand in practice this week, per Cleveland.com. That sucks.

Film Room

Starting with Cleveland defense, Tannehill has already thrown two interceptions this season. Perhaps picking on Browns corner Joe Hayden Sunday won’t be the best of ideas. Hayden, who has struggled in recent years, has put together two really good back to back games so far.

Against Baltimore, per PFF, Hayden allowed only four receptions for 57 yards on nine passes thrown his way. He recorded two INTS as well as a pass deflection. Here’s a look at his second pick on Flacco.

Locked in on the line with Ravens receiver, Breshad Perriman, Hayden goes upstairs to get this one. Hayden doesn’t jam Perriman, rather he shadows him and times a perfect break on the ball. Tannehill likes to take chances down the field to receivers Jarvis Landry and Kenny Stills, but Hayden has revitalized his career thus far in 2016, so Tannehill better be careful.

With Kessler just a rookie, you can expect the Dolphins to cut it lose on defense. There will be a high percent of designed blitzes on Kessler’s dropbacks, especially considering how poor the Browns offensive line is. But at USC, Kessler did a nice job getting the ball out efficiently, and climbing up the pocket. Here is an example of that.

By doing the little things, like climbing up to buy him some time, Kessler can put a dent in Miami’s plans to ruin his first NFL start. It all starts up front though.

Too many times last week was Miami’s defense caught off-guard and out of position. That will happen from time to time but it was a repetitive problem for the Dolphins versus the Patriots. Give credit to Jimmy Garoppolo though on this play, as he looks off both the linebackers, leaving Amendola wide open.

While it’s un-rational to expect a rookie to make these types of plays, the Dolphins defense must do a better job being diligent in their coverage.

Offensively, Miami needs to come out of the gates firing and continue to get the ball into receivers Jarvis Landry’s hands. He’s caught 17 passes already for 194 yards already. This little slant goes for 21 yards and opens the drive for the Dolphins.

Getting the ball into his hands results in chunks of yards at a time. While they throw him plenty of screens and passes behind the line of scrimmage, I’d like to see more quick screens like the one above. He’s such a quick and elusive receiver, it’s hard for any corner to jam him and steer him off course of his route.

Odds

Miami is a big home favorite, as the projected score according to Oddshark is 28-12. The Phins are favored by 9.5 points with an OVER/UNDER of 42.5.

Prediction

21-17 Browns. You heard it right here. The Browns will come in an upset a Dolphins team that is sputtering out of control. Kessler will play well enough and the defense will cover its end to preserve the Browns first victory of 2016.

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