Cleveland is the land of LeBron James and an attention-grabbing quarterback mashup featuring media magnet Johnny “Johnny Football” Manziel and resilient starter Brian Hoyer. What it’s not is a city where a lot of winning football is expected to take place in 2014. It looks to be a tough day today for the Browns, as the visiting New Orleans Saints come to town with more anger than Charlie Sheen on a bender. The Drew Brees-led Saints believe they are Super Bowl contenders. The Saints jumped out to a 20-3 lead in week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons and the expected dream season was underway. But the Saints got a rude awakening from the dream: the Falcons came back to win 37-34.
The Cleveland Browns watching game film will see plenty of holes in the Saints defense, obviously. And Hoyer led the Browns valiantly in week 1–yes, the Browns lost, but they played well after being down early. (Not as well as the Falcons in the same situation, but well.) The Saints powerful offense will be difficult for Cleveland to handle, even at home. The angry Saints–an oxymoron?–have been kicking themselves all week. They’re a road team that’s a 6.5 point favorite. That’s pretty rare for a winless team. But it’s just week 2.
