An AFC tilt between the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cleveland Browns kicks off at 1:00 PM this Sunday at Browns Stadium. The early football odds favor the Jaguars by -1 point.
Two AFC teams with identical records square off in this contest, and the betting line indicates just how evenly they are matched up. Jacksonville comes in off of their 3rd victory and first road win of the season, this past Sunday's 17-3 triumph over the winless Indianapolis Colts.
Jags RB Maurice Jones-Drew, by far the most reliable offensive weapon in Jacksonville's attack, rushed for 114 yards and a fourth-quarter TD to lead the Jags. It came as no huge surprise that Jones-Drew found success going against the Colts, since the diminutive scat-back has gone over 100 yards in six of the 11 games he's faced them.
He has been rushing well contending for the most NFL rushing yards each week The game featured two of the NFL's most ineffectual offenses, with the two combining for just 463 yards of offense. Jags rookie QB Blaine Gabbert connected on 14 of 21 pass attempts for just 118 yards, although also tossing an 11-yard TD pass to Jarrett Dillard. Despite the lack of offensive punch, Jacksonville managed to exercise ball-control, winning the time of possession battle handily, 35:21 to 24:39 as they tasted victory for the first time since their improbable Monday night win over Baltimore three weeks ago.
The Jags defense, by far their most effective unit overall, had little difficulty containing Indianapolis, limiting QBs Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky to a combined 128 yards passing while forcing 3 turnovers. One downer for the Jags was an injury CB RaSean Mathis, who went down in the first half from a knee injury and didn't return. An MRI was scheduled for Monday to determine the extent of the injury.
Cleveland appeared to be headed to their 4th win of the season this past Sunday against St. Louis at home, but instead fell short, 13-12 when the center snap bounced, leading to the usually reliable PK Phil Dawson shanking a 22-yard field goal attempt with a little over 2 minutes remaining. A successful FG would have given the Browns a 15-13 advantage in a game virtually devoid of offense on either side. Dawson had already booted 4 FGs, and this last one seemed to be a mere formality. Browns QB Colt McCoy had a solid, conservative game, completing 20 of 27 passes for 218 yards, while rookie RB Chris Ogbonnaya, Cleveland's third-string RB, carried 19 times for 90 yards, easily a career-best. Ogbonnaya is filling in for both Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty, sidelined indefinitely.
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