The Bills head to Cleveland for a game that, at least on paper, shouldn't be too difficult. Here's Sal Maiorana's early look ahead.
The Buffalo Bills are in for an interesting and perhaps more challenging week than you might think as they traverse to the other side of Lake Erie to play the woeful Cleveland Browns Sunday afternoon.
The Bills are coming off the ultimate high of rallying in a big way to defeat their fierce AFC East rival on the road, thus ending the New England Patriots’ 10-game winning streak while simultaneously keeping their own hopes alive for a sixth straight division title.
Now, they need to get back to work and take nothing for granted against a 3-11 Browns team that has nothing to play for but would surely love to be a tire-blasting pothole on Buffalo’s road to the elusive Super Bowl.
While the Bills have put up a couple clunkers this season in their losses to the Falcons and Dolphins, they have typically done a good job under Sean McDermott of respecting every opponent. That’s because the head coach drills the same mantra every week: there are no easy games in the NFL.
He’s right.
So while the Browns look awful on paper, McDermott will remind his players that from week to week you never know what’s going to happen. The Green Bay Packers learned that lesson at home in Lambeau Field back in Week 3 when they lost 13-10 to Cleveland.
Granted, that was early in the season when every team - even the Browns - still has hope. Since then, reality has crashed down on Cleveland. Its only other victories came against Miami at a time when the Dolphins were playing putrid football in the middle of the year, and then a few weeks ago when the Browns beat the Raiders who are miles and miles worse than even Cleveland.
Since their bye week the Browns are 1-5 and they’ve managed to lose to two of the other worst teams in the league, the Jets and Titans. In other words, it’s an easy team to overlook, and that’s what the Bills have to avoid doing, something they usually excel at, especially at this time of the year.
Buffalo is 25-4 since 2020 in regular-season games played in December/January, and not all of those wins came against playoff-bound teams. They have done an excellent job of taking care of business late in the season regardless of the opponent.
Buffalo Bills key to victory
How about trying something new and playing from ahead? The Bills have dug cavernous holes in their last two games but rallied to pull out a pair of superb victories against the Bengals and Patriots, but there’s no excuse to fall behind the Browns at any point given the anemic state of Cleveland’s offense led by rookie QB Shadeur Sanders.
As bad as the Browns’ offense is, there’s no denying that they have a stout defense, one that grades out very well statistically. However, in the last two weeks they’ve allowed 31 points to both the awful Titans and very good Bears, so that might be an indication that the weight of another disappointing season has sucked the life out of them.
Cleveland Browns key to victory
The Bills putting up a stinker is pretty much the only way Cleveland is winning this game. The Browns’ best chance would be for the Bills to help them with turnovers and penalties and maybe a special teams disaster because it’s tough to see the Browns doing enough on offense to win the game.
What the Browns should try to do is limit possessions and the key would be to get rookie RB Quinshon Judkins established early and often. He has five games with at least 80 yards rushing this season, though he has been limited in the last two, totaling just 47 yards on 26 carries. That will probably course-correct against the Bills’ league-worst run defense, and that should take some burden off Sanders.
Bills vs Browns matchup to watch
The only thing even semi-interesting about the Browns is superstar edge rusher Myles Garrett’s pursuit of the NFL single-season sack record. He has 21.5 after racking up 1.5 on Sunday, and if he gets to Allen 1.5 times, he will become the new sack king, surpassing the record shared by Michael Strahan and JJ Watt.
Garrett lines up almost exclusively on the right, meaning Dion Dawkins will be seeing him most of the time, probably with help from LG David Edwards and a chipping back or tight end. The Bills better not leave Dawkins one-on-one because while Dawkins is a four-time Pro Bowler, Garrett is a future first-ballot Hall of Famer who has the ability to wreck a game, even one where the Browns are heavy underdogs.
Who wins? Bills 30, Browns 10
Crazy things happen all the time in the NFL, but I can’t see that being the case in this game. The Bills are the much better team with a lot on the line because they have to win their last three to have a realistic chance of stealing the division from New England. That’s not a good recipe for the Browns.
This needs to be a day where Buffalo jumps on Cleveland early, builds a comfortable lead and coasts back to Orchard Park at 11-4. Since blowing out the Panthers 40-9 on Oct. 26, the Bills have been in a struggle to the death in every game except their blowout loss to the Dolphins and their romp over Pittsburgh, but even in that game, they trailed 7-3 at the half. They need a relatively easy one, and this should be it.
What time does the Buffalo Bills vs Cleveland Browns game start?
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Huntington Bank Field
Who is favored to win Bills vs Browns?
The Bills have opened as a 10.5-point favorite for the game. The money line is Bills minus-620 (bet $620 to win $100) and Browns plus-460 (bet $100 to win $460). The over-under is 42.5.
How to watch Buffalo Bills vs Cleveland Browns game on TV
Cable/Network TV: CBS. The game will be available locally via the following stations: WROC channel 8 (Rochester area), WIVB channel 4 (Buffalo area), WTVH channel 5 (Syracuse area), WKTV channel 2 (Utica area), WENY channel 36 (Elmira area), WRGB channel 6 (Albany area), and WBNG channel 12 (Binghamton area).
How can you stream Buffalo Bills vs Cleveland Browns game?
Online streaming services: You can watch games on NFL.com and the NFL mobile app, and you can subscribe to NFL+, the league’s own streaming service, though you can’t cast the games to your TV - you must watch on your phone or tablet.
TV streaming: You can also stream games if you have subscriptions to Spectrum, DirecTV Choice, Fubo Sports, Sling, Vidgo, Hulu + Live TV, YouTubeTV + NFL Sunday Ticket, and Paramount+.
On the radio: How to listen to the Bills vs Browns game
You can listen on SiriusXM satellite radio on channel 382 (Bills feed) and channel 227 (Browns feed), and on traditional radio, the Bills Radio Network has stations all across the state. Chris Brown has the play-by-play, Eric Wood is the analyst, and Sal Capaccio is the sideline reporter. The network includes:
- Rochester (WCMF 96.5 and WROC 950 AM)
- Buffalo (WGR550, 550 AM)
- Syracuse (WTKW 99.5/WTKV 105.5)
- Binghamton (WDRE 100.5FM)
- Ithaca (WIII 99.9/100.3 FM)
- Bath (WVIN 98.3 FM)
- Newark (WACK 1420 AM)
- Dansville (WDNY 93.9 FM)
- Elmira (WNGZ 1490 AM)
- Auburn (WAUB 98.1 FM/1590 AM)
- Geneva (WGVA 95.9 FM, 1240 AM)
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at [email protected], and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills aim to avoid trap game vs Browns after Patriots win
Category: General Sports
