The Cleveland Browns will kick off the season with a home date with the Cincinnati Bengals.
That’s not necessarily the best way to get things rolling, but at the end of the day, they still get to face them twice this season.
As things stand now, oddsmakers don’t seem to like the Browns’ chances.
As pointed out by Ross Kelly of CBS Sports, the Bengals are 5.5-point favorites for Week 1.
“We can tell you one of the model’s strongest Week 1 NFL picks is that the Bengals (-5.5, 47.5) cover the spread on the road versus the Browns. Cincy’s passing game, alone, may put more points on the game than Cleveland, which ranked dead-last in scoring in 2024. Cleveland struggled in all facets, with the last-ranked third-down offense, committing the second-most turnovers, and having bottom-five rankings in both rushing offense and redzone scoring. Plus, the Browns’ defense slipped considerably from the unit which led the NFL in yards allowed in 2023 as Cleveland ranked 27th in points allowed in 2024. The model projects a double-digit victory for Cincinnati (-5.5), which covers over 50% of the time,” Kelly wrote.
Then again, it’s also worth noting that, as good as he is, Joe Burrow is just 3-5 against the Browns in his career.
Of course, the Bengals did sweep last year’s season series, but the first game was with Deshaun Watson under center and the other with Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
Not to say that 40-year-old Joe Flacco is Tom Brady, but he’s clearly an offensive upgrade.
The Browns’ offensive line should also fare much better this time around, not to mention that they added two prime weapons on defense, such as Mason Graham and Carson Schwesinger.
Also, the Bengals have a long history of starting off slow under Zac Taylor.
That was the case again last year when they lost at home to the New England Patriots despite being the biggest favorite in Week 1.
Not many people think the Browns will be much better than they were last season, but they have more than enough talent to prove them wrong.
Hopefully, this will only fuel their competitive fire.
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