The Cleveland Browns face the Denver Broncos tonight, somewhat on the light side due to the absence of Baker Mayfield. That doesn’t mean Cleveland is in a bad spot, though, and the Browns have a chance to secure a key win by taking down the Broncos in Thursday Night Football.

Browns Deal with Offense Openings

It has been a short week for the Cleveland Browns, and the changing of the guard at QB was announced on Wednesday. Baker Mayfield sustained an injury to his left shoulder in Week 2. As for Keenum, he last started a game in 2019 with Washington, where he threw for 1,707 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions in eight starts.

Keenum is familiar with head coach Kevin Stefanski from their time together in Minnesota in 2017. This is nice, but getting familiar with his players and having the instinctive mindset to have the right reads will be a challenge. Keenum will definitely have his hands full from Von Miller’s stout defense of the Denver Broncos.

Key players will be out for the Browns, such as running backs Nick Chubb, who is out just for this game due to a calf injury, and Kareem Hunt, out for several weeks after he landed on injured reserve. The time is now for D’Ernest Johnson to take the spotlight to show the fans and world what he is made of. When you are missing the engine and key parts, there is no better time to let people know that you’re the rebuilt engine that can carry the load.

Broncos Trip and Fall with Three Consecutive Losses

The Denver Broncos have lost three straight and coming off a short week doesn’t make things any better. This team will have to put together a scheme to turn things around. Winning games with their defense is a must and having Von Miller rush the passer is a necessity. The defense has to be more confident and believe in themselves.

If the Broncos want to pull out a win, they will have to have a better conversion rate on 3rd downs because 29.9% just won’t cut it. Sometimes, you have to stick with what works best. It will be up to Teddy Bridgewater to put his team to the test. Will it be the run game or an air assault? The Browns are one of the toughest teams to run on. Either way, the Broncos are showing up to put the dogs back in the pound. 

Better Betting on the Browns

Breaking down this match-up from a betting perspective, the oddsmakers opened up this line with Cleveland at -6 and an Over/Under at 44. This was assuming that Baker Mayfield was going to be in the lineup along with other key players such as OBJ, Chubb, Green and Hunt. The number dipped tremendously, but the current line still favors the Browns -2, with an Over/Under 41.

Some notable trends for the Denver Broncos

• The Under is 5-0 in Broncos last five games after allowing more than 30 points in their previous game
• The Broncos are 0-4 ATS in their last four games in October
• The Over is 4-1 in Broncos last five games following a straight up loss
• The Broncos are 4-1 ATS in their last five games after accumulating more than 250 yards passing in their previous game

Notable trends for the Cleveland Browns

• The Browns are 4-26 ATS in their last 30 games after accumulating less than 90 yards rushing in their previous game
• The Under is 5-1 in Browns’ last six Thursday games
• The Over is 5-1 in Browns’ last six vs. AFC
• The Over is 4-1 in Browns’ last five games following a straight up loss of more than 14 points