Upcoming Match-ups

Early Lines Had Browns Favored by 2.5 Over Seahawks in Week 6; Cleveland Now 1.5-Point Dogs

Paul Attfield

by Paul Attfield in NFL Football

Updated Apr 6, 2020 · 9:34 AM PDT

Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks are favored over the Cleveland Browns in Week 6. Photo By M I K E M O R R I S from Sedro Woolley, USA. (Wiki Commons)
  • Seattle Seahawks are riding high at 4-1 and putting up 26.6 points per game, good for seventh-best in the NFL
  • Cleveland is heading into a short week after Monday night’s 31-3 debacle against the 49ers
  • Early lines had the Browns listed as short favorites, but the line has swung in favor of the Seahawks

Seattle may no longer have the Legion of Boom, but with a quarterback like Russell Wilson leading the way, the team is putting up points and earning victories.

It’s tough to say the same about the Cleveland Browns, whose own quarterback is currently going through some early-career struggles as he tries to right a ship that is listing at 2-3 right now.

The Cleveland Browns were installed as early 2.5-point favorites at home in the Seattle Seahawks vs Cleveland Browns odds and stats. However, that number has quickly adjusted in favor of Seattle, seeing the Seahawks as now short 1.5-point road favorites.

Seattle Seahawks vs Cleveland Browns Odds

Team Spread Win Total
Seattle Seahawks -1.5 (-110) -121 O 47 (-115)
Cleveland Browns +1.5 (-110) +101 U 47 (-105)

*Odds taken on 10/08/19

Seattle Soars

If it wasn’t for the first September home loss in Pete Carroll’s 10-season tenure as Seahawks head coach – Week 3’s 33-27 reverse against New Orleans – Seattle would be 5-0 at this point.

Russell Wilson has been almost unstoppable so far this season. His 12 touchdown passes leads the NFL, while his average quarterback rating of 126.3 is easily tops amongst all starters. While his completion percentage of 73.1% and average-yards-per-attempt of 9.03 are both career highs at the five-game mark.

As a result, the 30-year-old is firmly in the conversation for the NFL MVP in the early going of the 2019 NFL season.

Cause for Concern?

However, it hasn’t all been lollypops and roses for the Seahawks, who currently trail the perfect San Francisco 49ers (4-0) at the top of the NFC West.

Three of the teams four wins have come by a total of four points, and three of those victories were against Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Arizona – who are not exactly the NFL’s creme de la creme.

Even in last Thursday night’s 30-29 win over the Los Angeles Rams, the defending NFC champions, Seattle had to a rely on a missed field goal as time expired to escape with a victory.

But then close-fought victories are almost Carroll’s stock in trade these days. In 2017, six of Seattle’s seven losses were decided by one possession, while all of last year’s six regular-season losses, as well as the playoff defeat against Dallas, were one-score games.

Browns-Out

For a team that entered the season with seemingly legitimate Super Bowl hopes, Monday night’s 31-3 embarrassment at the hands of the still-perfect 49ers was a new low.

Sophomore quarterback Baker Mayfield had the worst game of his young career with a quarterback rating of just 13.4 after completing just 8 of 22 passes for a paltry 100 yards. Cleveland’s offensive line couldn’t do much to slow San Francisco’s pass rush, which sacked Mayfield four times and forced him to fumble twice and throw two interceptions.

At 2-3 on the season now, and facing a short week before Sunday’s visit by Seattle, Cleveland must find some answers. It doesn’t help that the Browns are 0-2 at home this season either.

Where Do They Go From Here?

Much will be made this week of Mayfield’s struggles on Sunday, and rightly so, but he was only one part of the problem. San Francisco’s offense had the ability to move the ball at will, beginning with Matt Breida’s 83-yard scoring rush on the Niners’ opening drive.

In the three games prior to Monday, Cleveland had limited the opposition to an average of 16 points per game. But that statistic is skewed slightly because of the Week 2 win over the lowly New York Jets, who managed to put just three points on the board. But on the season, the Browns are giving up an average of 24.4 points per game, good enough for 12th overall.

But against a red-hot quarterback such as Wilson – currently directing the league’s seventh-best offense at 388 yards per game, and which is averaging 26.6 points per game – the Browns may well get overwhelmed once again. Expect the line to move in Seattle’s direction in the days leading up to the game.

The chatter and hype around Wilson seem legit, and there is no reason to think that with the Seattle quarterback enjoying his best NFL season statistically that this run is going to stop anytime soon.

Pick: Seahawks (-121)

Author Image