The Cleveland Browns held their ground for the most part on Sunday. Despite being 10-point underdogs, they only lost by three points, and they were in a position to tie or win the game vs. the Buffalo Bills. Nevertheless, oddsmakers don’t seem to like their chances on Sunday.
As pointed out by Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports, they’re home underdogs in their divisional matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers:
“They’ll look to handle their portion of the equation on Sunday as a 4.5-point favorite over the Browns on the road. That number is up from the 3.5-point spread in the Steelers’ favor at the open. Cleveland has been one of the better home teams to back against the spread this season, owning a 5-2 record. Meanwhile, the Steelers are just 3-4 ATS on the road, so this could get a bit tricky for Aaron Rodgers’ club,” Sullivan wrote.
Then again, it’s also worth noting that Josh Allen was pretty banged up in the loss, not to mention that the Bills seemed to overlook the Browns with a couple of questionable decisions. If anything, the game was much more lopsided than one might tell by the final score.
Whatever the case, the Browns will probably play it safely against the Steelers. They don’t have anything else to play for at this point in the season, other than Myles Garrett’s sack record, Carson Schwesinger’s Defensive Rookie of the Year campaign, and draft positioning.
The fact of the matter is that Shedeur Sanders hasn’t been much better than Dillon Gabriel, even though he brings more confidence and swagger to the table. That’s to say that he has just two chances to show why the Browns should stick with him for next season.
Taking down the Steelers at home would certainly help his case, and it would also take his team out of the range to get one of his potential replacements. Other than that, the Browns should be thinking about the offseason.
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