Nico Collins (calf) is practicing, and I’d be inclined to use him. The Browns have the league’s No. 1 pass defense, but they haven’t been nearly as good on the road.
Houston won’t have C.J. Stroud, of course. That’s a downer. But Case Keenum is a capable veteran backup. And in Bobby Slowik, they have an up-and-coming offensive coordinator. I think it’s fair to wonder if Slowik has been as impactful as Stroud for the Texans.
Keenum went 11-3 filling in for the Vikings in 2017, averaging 243 yards in those games, with 21 TDs versus 7 interceptions. Between Minnesota and Houston, he averaged 224 yards in 26 starts, with 31 TDs versus 21 interceptions. He’s run a lot of different offenses.
The Browns this year have simply destroyed a bunch of passing games, but all of their headliner games have come at home. On the road, they’ve turned surprisingly ordinary.
Below see the rundown of the 12 wide receivers who’ve started against Cleveland this year. I’m listing the top two receivers for each team, but the list includes a couple of lesser receivers. Allen Robinson isn’t relevant (he was filling in for Diontae Johnson). Jerry Jeudy has struggled this year – nobody in Week 7 was starting him against any defense. Odell Beckham has been borderline, with a lot of low-usage games.
If you look at the other nine receivers, they’ve almost all hit. Courtland Sutton (with 3 catches for 61 yards) has finished with the worst numbers, and even he wasn’t a complete disaster.
Michael Pittman caught only 2 balls, but he saved his day with a late 75-yard touchdown.
Cleveland has had issues with giving up long touchdowns. In the list below, there are 3 touchdowns from 70-plus yards, and 3 other receptions of 40-plus.
So the leaning here, therefore, is to go ahead and roll with Collins. With the Texans not having Tank Dell, they’re sure to at least be giving him some looks.
| CLEVELAND ON ROAD AGAINST WIDE RECEIVERS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | No | Yds | Avg | Lg | TD |
| George Pickens, Pitt. | 4 | 127 | 31.8 | 71t | 1 |
| Allen Robinson, Pitt. | 2 | 12 | 6.0 | 7 | 0 |
| Michael Pittman, Ind. | 2 | 83 | 41.5 | 75t | 1 |
| Josh Downs, Ind. | 5 | 125 | 25.0 | 59t | 1 |
| DK Metcalf, Sea. | 5 | 67 | 13.4 | 43 | 0 |
| Tyler Lockett, Sea. | 8 | 81 | 10.1 | 17 | 1 |
| Zay Flowers, Balt. | 5 | 73 | 14.6 | 18 | 0 |
| Odell Beckham, Balt. | 1 | 40 | 40.0 | 40t | 1 |
| Courtland Sutton, Den. | 3 | 61 | 20.3 | 31 | 0 |
| Jerry Jeudy, Den. | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 7 | 0 |
| Puka Nacua, LAR | 4 | 105 | 26.3 | 70t | 1 |
| Cooper Kupp, LAR | 6 | 39 | 6.5 | 13 | 1 |
—Ian Allan