Official Texans @ Browns Game Thread, 11/15/2020
 

The 2-6 Houston Texans head to Cleveland this Sunday to play the 5-3 Browns in an early game on FOX. The Texans are coming off a 27-25 road win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Browns are coming off their bye week. Browns QB Baker Mayfield is back at practice and the Texans can expect to see a lot of RB's Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. In the Browns passing game, look for WR's Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry. The Browns also have three productive TE's in Austin Hooper, Harrison Bryant and David Njoku.

The Texans are going to have their work cut out for them. RB David Johnson suffered a concussion in the Jags game and his status for the game is unknown at this point. Duke Johnson may be called upon to takeover the RB duties. The Texans are going to need CB Bradley Roby for this game. Whitney Mercilus, Dylan Cole and Max Scharping are all coming off the Black Plague list and will be elegible to play.

I don't think the Texans have enough to beat a rested up Browns squad, here, but would love to be wrong:

Browns 24, Texans 17

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TV = FOX (channel 26 local), noon CST, Sunday, 11/15/2020

Announcers = Dick Stockton, Matt Millen

The line = Browns by 3

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Other Sunday viewing in the Houston area:

CBS (late) = Buffalo @ Arizona (LATE)Ian Eagle, Charles Davis

FOX (late) = San Francisco @ New OrleansAdam Amin, Mark Schlereth

(note: CBS just has 3 late games on Sunday due to the out of season showing of the Masters Tournament)

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Prime time:

TNF = Indianapolis @ Tennessee (FOX/NFLN)

SNF = Baltimore @ New England (NBC)

MNF = Minnesota @ Chicago (ESPN)

In the past year and a half we spent a 3rd round pick on Duke Johnson, and then spent Hopkins to replace Johnson with David Johnson. Both are replacement level guys at a position where you can sign guys off the street whenever you feel like it. To prove that we grabbed Carlos Hyde in between those guys (almost for free) and he was better than either. To those draft pick and player investments you can add a tremendous amount of money spent on RBs. I know we made lots of bad deals, but the RB decisions are the most insane. Take those out and we're probably a .500 team fighting for a playoff spot and looking at losing a mid 1st instead of a top 5 pick. There were 100Xs that GM BOB should have been reigned in, but it's truly embarrassing we watched him value RBs on a different planet from the rest of the league and our ownership just nodded along.

No Odell Beckham Jr. on Sunday:

Knee Surgery. Good thing - not sure anyone on the Texans could've covered him.

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McClain said if the Texans can upset the Browns, he thinks the Texans can beat the Pats and the Lions in the next two games. 5-6 anyone? That could make catching a couple of 6-3 teams at the top (Colts, Titans) of the division maybe not that improbable....

I guess we'll see....

Oh waitress! I'll have what he's smoking...

Oh come on, Bob. It would be a very Texan thing to do: Get back in the race only to fall on their face near the finish line...

Flashback: Texans @ Browns 2014 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgMDrxDzWyk

Ryan Mallett and Alfred Blue face Brian Hoyer and the Brownies in balmy 34-degree Cleveland weather.

The D-Hop trade that shithead O'Brien made with the Cardinals has to be among the all time worst trades in NFL history.
IMO there's no plausible way to defend, to explain how an NFL HC with his time in the league could have entered into such an agreement short of attributing it to industrial sabotage.

I also caught McClains comments on 610 about the Browns game.
McClain is not known for his sage commentary, but that's OK because I still like to hear him tell the stories from back in the day, especially those involving he Oilers.
Speaking of the Colts & Titans, how about that game Thursday night ?
Quite a collapse in the second half by the Titans, huh ?

Yes, it was one of the better TNF games of the year especially since I was on Indy. If the Texans would just get into gear, the AFCS could be respectable again.

I'm OK with McClain, too. He is privy to inside info that none of us are privy to. He can be a good listen when he is on his game. Then again, he sometimes guesses at what is going on just like fans do. He can be wrong and it doesn't seem to bother him - probably a necessary defense in that line of work....

After about a 35 minute weather delay, the Browns take the opening kickoff and drive down for a 41-yard FG by Parkey.

Browns 3, Texans 0

8:27 left in the 1st qtr.

File this one under "Games you can take a nap and not miss anything".

First half ends with the Browns still leading 3-0.

Opening drive by the Browns sure made it look like they would run all over the Texans, but the defense tightened up since. I think that must be it; that or the Browns have regressed to being the Browns.

Myles Garrett doing quite a bit to put a dent in Laremy Tunsil's All-Pro bid. Just too quick for him. Scharping again iffy.

Haven't watching too much of him today, but Tytus Howard must be doing well again.

IKR. And the Texan are unable to take advantage...

Chubb runs one in from 9 yards.

Browns 10, Texans 0

13:32 left in the game.

Watson hits Pharaoh Brown for a 16 yard TD pass.

Browns 10, Texans 7

4:59 left in the game.

Texans had their chances but just couldn't get it done.

Final score:

Browns 10, Texans 7

Speaking of McClain, a Cleveland reporter asked him if he'd ever seen 70-mph winds like they had before today's kickoff.

He replied "Only every hurricane season".

I think the Oilers, uh, Texans have packed it in for the year. Would have been a nice year to have our top draft picks.

I'm beginning to believe D-Hop's baby mamas would have made for better general managers than the one we recently had.

Proof that the world has lost its ever-loving mind:

Texans favored by 1 to 2 over the Patriots next Sunday. Yep, those Patriots, the ones that just beat the Ravens on SNF.