ESPN: Joe Flacco display all his talent to overcome New York Giants as a super st…

Thursday Night Football features an AFC matchup between the New York Jets (6-9, 5-9-1) and the Cleveland Browns (10-5, 9-5-1 ATS). The Jets were eliminated from playoff contention, while the Browns are still alive. Cleveland is currently the 5-seed in the AFC playoffs, with games against the Jets and the Bengals remaining. The Jets are coming off a win last week against Washington, defeating the Commanders 30-28 but failing to cover as 3-point favorites. The Browns just picked up a strong home win over the Texans 36-22, easily covering as 3.5-point road favorites. Cleveland is currently listed as a 7-point home favorite. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 EST from Cleveland Browns Stadium, and can be found on Amazon Prime Video.

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No Playoffs, No Rodgers
The Aaron Rodgers 2023 story has finally come to a close, with the team out of playoff contention it has now been announced that Rodgers will not return this season. Though this is a conclusion that most already had come to, it is now official. Head coach Robert Saleh admitted they could have done better once Rodgers went down saying, “Could we have done things better? I’m talking about myself and the coaching staff, with regards to, ‘All right, this is our worst-case scenario, now what?’ Absolutely, and it’s something that we will make sure that we do a heck of a lot better with in 2024.”
The Jets are still waiting on word from the doctors on Zach Wilson’s health as he is recovering from a concussion, if he cannot go, the Jets will hand the ball to Trevor Siemian for his second straight start. Siemian is a 31-year-old journeyman who has played for four different NFL teams, last week he went 27-49 for 217 yards with a 1-1 TD-INT ratio. Breece Hall had a career day out of the backfield, he ran for 95 yards and two scores, and also added 96 receiving yards. Hall is their leading rusher on the season with 48.8 yards per game with four touchdowns. Garrett Wilson is their top receiver, and is likely to top 1,000 yards on the season, he is averaging 63.9 yards per game with three touchdowns. Tight end Tyler Conklin is their next top pass catcher, he is averaging 37.3 yards per game, but surprisingly has not scored on any of his 54 receptions.

The Jets rank 30th in the NFL in scoring with 15.4 points per game, and their defense ranks 14th by allowing 21.0 points per. Linebacker CJ Mosely leads the team in tackles with 136, with fellow linebacker Quincy Williams not far behind at 124. Linebacker Bryce Huff leads the team with eight sacks, and safety Jordan Whitehead leads the team in sacks with four. The Jets have one of the worst turnover differentials in the league, with 22 takeaways on defense opposed to 30 offensive turnovers.

Injury Report:

Questionable: QB Zach Wilson, OT Duane Brown, DE John Franklin-Myers, CB Justin Hardee, K Greg Zuerlein

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Win and In
There will be many different playoff scenarios in Week 17, but there is only one that matter for Cleveland. If they win their home game against the Jets, they will clinch a playoff berth. Cleveland’s unlikely path has seen three different starting quarterbacks, as veteran Joe Flacco has led the team on their current three-game winning streak. The three wins were against the Jaguars, Bears and Texans, and they have one more trip to Cincinnati after this game. In their last game, Amari Cooper led the team with an incredible 265 receiving yards with two touchdowns in the win over Houston.
Flacco has taken control of this offense, he has thrown for over 300 yards in each of the last three games, including a high of 374 against Chicago. He has had a bit of a gunslinger mentality, as he has a 10-7 TD-INT ratio over the past four games. Jerome Ford has been the top back in Cleveland this season with 49.5 yards per game with four touchdowns. The Browns have been passing more with Flacco, Ford has not rushed for over 30 yards in either of the last two games. Amari Cooper is 6th in the NFL in receiving yards and is averaging 83.3 yards per game with five touchdowns. Cooper has benefitted from the addition of Flacco, he had 265 yards last week, and 109 in the week before. David Njoku gets 49.9 yards per game and leads the team with six receiving touchdowns as a tight end. Elijah Moore has been the number two receiver on the team, he adds 38.6 receiving yards per game with just one touchdown.

Cleveland ranks 10th in the league in scoring with 23.0 points per game, and their defense ranks 12th by allowing 20.7 points per game. Despite being 12th in scoring defense, their defense ranks 1st in yards allowed by only giving up 260.3 yards per game. Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah leads the team in tackles with 90 on the year, while defensive end Myles Garrett leads the team with 13 sacks. Cornerback Martin Emerson Jr leads the team with four interceptions. The Browns have 25 takeaways on defense, while their offense has turned it over 32 times.

Injury Report:

Questionable: QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson (Flacco will start either way), RB Kareem Hunt, WR Marquise Goodwin, OT Geron Christian, G Joel Bitonio, CB Martin Emerson Jr.

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Rating:
Motivation is everything, and the Browns have far more reasons to triumph in this one than the Jets do. Cleveland can clinch a spot in the playoffs with a win here, and will not want to wait until next week as they have a divisional road matchup with the Bengals. On paper, it should be much easier to win at home over the Jets than to win on the road in Cincinnati. Expecting the coaching staff to be prepared and pull out their best stuff to get a win here. The Jets do not know is Wilson or Siemian will start in this one, the indecision hurts preparation, and neither quarterback will be prepared for this Cleveland defense. Myles Garrett and company bring a lot of pressure on quarterbacks, and they are the best defense in terms of yardage in the NFL. The Jets only rank 30th in scoring, and will have trouble putting up points against this top ranked defense. Flacco has been amazing lately, he has thrown for over 350 yards in each of his last two games and has quickly formed chemistry with Amari Cooper. This one means more to the Browns, Cleveland gets back to the playoff in front of their home crowd here.