The Cleveland Browns have lost two in a row and will look to avoid dropping a third to slip back to .500 against the Houston Texans on Sunday. Houston isn’t your average 3-5 team and looks like a team ready to go on a tear just like it did last year when it ran the table after starting 3-5 to finish at 12-5.
The Browns falling to 5-5 or the Texans falling to 3-6 would make a playoff push highly unlikely, and one local media analyst agrees.
Adam Gerstenhaber of Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show said in a recent episode that the Browns’ playoff hopes live and die with this game. A loss would put the postseason dreams to bed.
“If the Browns lose, they’re not going to the playoffs,” Gerstenhaber said.
As it currently stands, the Browns are tied with the New England Patriots at 5-4 in their chase for the seventh seed in the AFC. New England has a tough matchup with the Detroit Lions in Germany on Sunday, so things aren’t actually as daft as they may seem.
Nobody else behind the Browns in the Wild Card chase is at .500, so if the Patriots lose, the Browns will remain right in the thick of this playoff race no matter what happens with Houston. Cleveland has a couple of winnable matchups coming up after this game as well, so there is a path to go on a little run here and get to potentially 8-5 heading into the stretch run.
This should be a fun one, and most importantly, the Browns head into this game quite healthy. Houston, on the other hand, has an exhaustive injury list and will be without some key defenders on Sunday, so keep an eye out to see if the Browns can exploit that advantage.
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