Written by Jesse Lamovsky

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New York Jets @ Cleveland Browns

Time: 1:00 pm, Sunday, November 14, 2010

Location: Cleveland Browns Stadium

Network, Announcers- CBS: Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. The Eye is bringing its top guns to Cleveland this weekend.

Line: Jets by three

Team W/L Records: Cleveland is 3-5; New York is 6-2.

Coaches: Eric Mangini is 31-41 overall, 8-16 in his second season with the Browns; Rex Ryan is 15-9 in his second season with the Jets.

Last Week for the Browns: Posted their most impressive win over a quality opponent since the Return of 1999 in 34-14 rout of New England. Cleveland dominated the Patriots statistically, including a 230-68 walloping on the ground. That’s the kind of line a good AFC North team puts on an opponent. That’s a Ravens line, a Steelers line.  

Last Week for the Jets: Were fortunate to get out of Detroit with a 23-20 overtime win. New York trailed 20-10 before scoring ten points in the last three minutes to tie the game, thanks in part to some questionable clock-management by the Lions, who are usually best described on the whole as “questionable.” The Jets then took the opening kickoff of overtime and drove 56 yards to Nick Folk’s game-winning field goal.  

All-Time Series: Browns lead, 12-7.

Last Meeting- December 9, 2007: Led by 118 rushing yards from Jamal Lewis the Browns improved to 8-5 with a 24-18 win over Eric Mangini’s Jets at the Meadowlands. Lewis salted away the victory when he ran through the New York defence for a 31-yard touchdown with a little over a minute left.

Out, Doubtful or Questionable for New York: CB Marquice Cole (hamstring) is out; LB Joshua Mauga (hamstring) is questionable.

Out, Doubtful or Questionable for Cleveland: LB Marcus Benard (illness), DE Kenyon Coleman (knee), QB Jake Delhomme (ankle), DT Shaun Rogers (ankle), T John St. Clair (ankle) and QB Seneca Wallace (ankle) are questionable. I’d be a little surprised to see Benard out there after his scary collapse on Thursday.

What to watch for the Browns: Cleveland fans awoke on Monday morning, heads still dizzy from the thrashing of the Patriots, to find their team had become the talk of the NFL- in a good way. Airwaves once reserved for periodic recitals of chaos and upheaval were now filled with talk of the Browns as a team on the rise, a team capable of beating anyone in the league- right now. It might say something about the way they’ve played so far, it might say something about the way they’ve played since 1999; either way the Browns- who by the way are still just 3-5- have gotten in the last two games that they hadn’t earned in the last eleven seasons.

There’s a different feeling this season. And that feeling makes Sunday’s game about as big as you could want for a mid-season match-up. Beating the Saints, Pats and Jets- three of the face cards in the NFL deck- would be bigger than anything this team has done since 1999.

But this game will be tougher than either of the first two instalments of the “New” trilogy. New York does two things New Orleans and New England really don’t do: they run the ball and stop the run. The Jets are fourth in the NFL in both categories. The Amoeba defence that so befuddled the Saints and Patriots might not be as effective on Sunday, despite the presence of Mark Sanchez- New York can just run right through it. The Jets have the running game to keep Cleveland honest defensively and the defence to keep Peyton Hillis, if not neutralized, at least contained.   

It’s going to be tough. I’m nervous- and I love it. I miss being nervous before Browns games. It’s a delicious sensation.

What to watch for the Jets: Mark Sanchez started this season as if he was going to bury the memories of an up-and-down rookie season that saw him throw twice as many interceptions as touchdowns. Through four games the Sanchise completed 58.2 percent of his passes and threw seven touchdown passes to zero interceptions as the Jets rolled to three straight wins after an opening-Monday loss to Baltimore.

But the last four games have seen a return of the Mark Sanchez of 2009. In those last four the Sanchise completed 50.3 percent with two touchdowns and five interceptions. The Jets have the same 3-1 record in the last four that they had in the first four, but the one loss was an unsightly home shutout at the hands of the Packers. Sanchez completed just 16-of-38 in that game.

Sanchez is coming off a career-best 336-yard performance in Detroit, and he has a better running game and superior passing targets to Tom Brady. New York has shown the ability to win in spite of its quarterback as much as because of him. Sanchez doesn’t necessarily need to be great for the Jets to win on Sunday. But against an aroused Cleveland team playing at a high level, he’d better not be a liability. New York’s best hopes rest with the running game and defence. But if Sanchez is rolling out 42-percent accuracy and dishing out turnovers, the Jets will be in major trouble.

Next Week for Both Teams: Cleveland visits Jacksonville; New York hosts Houston.

Trivia: New York’s AFL/AFC entry has long been a bit of a good-luck charm for the Browns. Cleveland’s last four winning seasons- 2007, 2002, 1994 and 1989- have included wins over the Jets.