Browns vs Jets Picks, Odds & Betting Preview – Monday Night Football Week 2

• The Cleveland Browns (0-1) face the New York Jets (0-1) on Monday Night Football
• The Jets will be without QB Sam Darnold who is out indefinitely with mono
• QB Trevor Siemian will make his first start since December 2017 for New York
  

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If the Jets start to the season has taught us anything, it’s that what can go wrong will go wrong.

First, New York blew a 16-point lead to the Buffalo Bills in Week 1 and now they’ve lost QB Sam Darnold indefinitely with mononucleosis.

Cleveland Browns vs New York Jets Odds

*odds taken 9/15

With the news Darnold will miss at least this game the Cleveland Browns vs New York Jets odds have moved in a big way. The Browns opened as 1.5 point favorites but are now giving up 6.5 points. Don’t worry though, even if you weren’t able to jump on the more attractive price I think they should cover the number easily for a few key reasons.

Trevor Siemian Thrust into Tough Spot

Remember Trevor Siemian? The last time you saw him on an NFL football field was December 14th, 2017. Even if Siemian were a highly talented quarterback it would be asking a lot for him to contribute in a big way Monday night, the fact he was league average at best makes it even harder.

Trevor Siemian is prepared for Monday's game against the Browns:
"Do my job, run a clean operation, and get the ball in the end zone" pic.twitter.com/GIIteuh60e

— Jets Videos (@snyjets) September 12, 2019

For his career Siemian has completed only 59.3% of his passes. He’s thrown for 30 TD and 24 INT, further showing he really is just okay. It will be very difficult for him to come in and shine considering he hasn’t thrown a meaningful pass in 21 months. Expect the bright lights on Monday Night Football to be too much for the former Denver Broncos starter.

All Signs Point to Big Game from Mayfield

Baker Mayfield wasn’t very impressive in Week 1, throwing for one touchdown and three picks in a 30-point loss to the Tennessee Titans. I expect him to have a big bounce back game thanks in large part to the competition. Mayfield is 7-8 in his career but six of those seven wins have come against non-playoff teams. He loves to beat up on inferior opponents and the Jets are just that.  His first career win even came against the Jets, giving some evidence he likes playing them specifically. With Odell Beckham Jr and several other new weapons at his disposal, expect a big performance.

Odell Beckham Jr. to keep wearing $350,000 watch in games pic.twitter.com/K5yGXsHyPq

— For The Win (@ForTheWin) September 11, 2019

How inferior are the Jets? In Week 1 they allowed more rushing yards, passing yards and total yards and also gained less rushing yards, passing yards and total yards than the Browns. The only metric you can find where the Jets were better was points allowed, but Cleveland should find more success against Siemian and the Jets than they did the Titans.

Eliminating Penalties Key to the Game for Cleveland

The Browns’ penalty numbers in Week 1 were staggering. They were flagged a total of 18 times which was the second highest mark in franchise history. In total, they gave up 182 yards in penalties. All of this is to say a lot of their Week 1 wounds were self inflicted. If first year head coach Freddie Kitchens can tidy up things from a discipline standpoint, there should be no stopping the Browns.

Pick: Cleveland Browns -7 (-109)