CARDINALS AT BROWNS
- 1:05 p.m. Sunday
- FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland
- Line: Cardinals +3.5 (For more details see BetMGM.com)
The three biggest things to watch for Sunday when the Cardinals play the Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland:
Kyler vs. Baker, Round II
Kyler Murray seemed a little irritated about the potential hype of Sunday's game – "It's not the Super Bowl" – but any game that features the two former teammates/Heisman winners is going to draw attention every time. Murray won the first meeting, back in his rookie 2019 season, the long bright spot in a second half fizzle for the Cardinals. These days, Murray is an MVP candidate. Mayfield is good, but still draws doubters in Cleveland. The Cards could be missing some key pieces; it's amazing though what a good quarterback performance can do to cover that up. Besides, whether this is a Super Bowl or not, you know Murray wants to get this win and get to 2-0 against Mayfield.
Chubb, Hunt, And Cards' Defense Bears The Brunt
The Browns are the best rushing team in the NFL. They are tops in most categories running the football, including rushing yards and rushing yards per play. All it takes is watching a little bit of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt to understand how they can hurt you with the ground game. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have struggled defending the run (28th in yards per game, 31st in yards per attempt at 5.4). It's not a promising combination. But the Cardinals care about the points – or more specifically from J.J. Watt, only that they give up fewer than the Cardinals' offense scores. The Browns will get some yards on the ground. The Cards just don't want them to control the game that way.
One At A Time, Week 6
The next step to 6-0 is beating the Browns, but the Cards have done a nice job pushing the undefeated conversation to the side. It's not hard to do that when your best pass rusher and game-changing center aren't going to play in the game. The Browns may be more desperate overall, but the Cards will have some desperation trying to keep the zero in the loss column. Besides, offensively especially, Murray said the 49ers game was "tough to watch" and that unit is going to want to get back to the level at which they are capable of playing.
