Browns at Texans

Wildcard team Cleveland travels southwest to take on division winners, Houston. Browns come out of a strong AFC North conference that sends 3 teams to the playoffs. Eleven-game winners, Browns did it on defense.

Their defensive strength is pictured in the graph below. Rushes + Pass Completion is a good measure of ball control and the Browns' stout defense kept opponents from playing ball control against them. Stronger than league average in all but four games, Browns put up defensive blockade.

Drilling down, we can see it is the Browns pass D that makes them so strong. League's second best behind Ravens. Killer Stat, Defense.

Houston can move the ball through the air, as seen in the offensive side of our Killer Stat, (Yards per Pass attempt) chart Killer Stat, Offense. Texans rank 6th, a big edge to Texans' offense compared to the Browns offense at 25th. Houstons' capable offense makes this matchup pencil out as a close game.

Our computer likes Houston by 2.5 points after giving them 3 points for the home field. Pretty much all season long, our computer has tabbed the Ravens and 49ers for the Super Bowl. Cleveland beat them both, proving they can beat anybody on their day. In a recent head-to-head, Browns came out on top. We've always been partial to teams coming out of strong conferences; I'm taking the visiting Browns.

Bill Sanders for BudGoodeSports.com
dr.bill@wrsanders.com

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