Key’s to victory: Browns

Another week and another obstacle to conquer. This time the Bolts face another surging team with as much momentum as their own. On paper Cleveland presents a bad match up for us on. Although, they seem to be limping into week 5 with a slew of injuries. Let’s explore the keys to victory. If they can accomplish these tasks, there is no reason why 4-1 shouldn’t await.

Do not let Cleveland control the clock

This might be the single most important thing to Cleveland’s success. They typically do this so well because of their heavy run game. They average a time of possession of 34:21 to their opponents average of 25:39. This is possible due to the fact they average 5.1 yards a carry. They have a total of 140 rushing plays on the season vs 113 pass attempts, and why not when you average over 5 yards a carry. This doesn’t bode well for the Chargers who have struggled against the run although they did seem to clean up that part of the struggles last week against the Raiders. As a team the Chargers give up a unnerving 5.4 yards a carry. The one thing that may help the team against Kareem Hunt and Bradley Chubb is that the Browns will be without the starting left tackle and possibly others as well. Let’s see if they can carry over what they started last week as far as run D.

Slowing down the Browns pass rush

Cleveland has one of the best pass rushing duo’s in the league and while the Chargers have upgraded the offensive line there still seem to be struggles. Particularly on the right side where Storm Norton will match up against Clowney. Rookie Rashawn Slater will also face his biggest test this week as he will line up across from Myles Garrett who leads the league in sacks with 6. As a team Cleveland has 14 total sacks while the Chargers have been able to surrender just 7 sacks on the season. Last week Slater and Fieler seemed to have constant miscommunication as a few times Raiders defenders got free rushes against Herbert. This is something that simply can’t be allowed this week.