2 Reasons The Browns Can Beat The Jaguars

Virtually no one believes the Cleveland Browns can defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars in their season opener. That is why Cleveland is one of the biggest underdogs on the board, as it is on the road facing a team that made the playoffs with 13 victories last season.

But NFL Week 1 has traditionally produced more surprising results than usual. In fact, last year, the Browns were home underdogs against the Cincinnati Bengals and could have won the game if not for two missed kicks by rookie Andre Szmyt.

With quarterback Deshaun Watson playing in his first NFL regular-season game in almost two years, the Browns will have to be on point to have any chance at a close game, to say nothing of a potential victory. But it certainly could happen.

There are two reasons the Browns can beat the Jaguars, because they still have an elite defense, and their opponent has no idea what to expect in head coach Todd Monken’s NFL debut.

Even though the Browns no longer have two-time Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, they still have a lot of talent on that side of the ball. With linemen Jared Verse and Mason Graham, linebackers Carson Schwesinger and Quincy Williams, and defensive backs Denzel Ward, Tyson Campbell and Grant Delpit, Cleveland has Pro Bowl talent at every level.

In addition, even though Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence thrived in his first year under head coach Liam Coen, he only completed 60.9 percent of his passes and threw 12 interceptions. With the Browns’ defense focused on creating turnovers throughout training camp, getting one or two on Sunday could change the complexion of the game considerably.

Then, there is Monken, who has been preparing his entire career to coach this game, so he likely has been planning some plays for decades for use in just this moment. He has complete confidence in his system, and fully believes in Watson as his quarterback, so there may be some real upside from his game plan that the Jaguars are not ready for.

It’s a long shot, but the Browns may be able to catch the Jaguars looking past them toward their Week 2 matchup against the Denver Broncos, and Cleveland may have just enough to take advantage.