Written by Jesse Lamovsky

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Cleveland Browns @ Jacksonville Jaguars

Time: 1:00 pm, Sunday, November 21, 2010

Location: EverBank Field, Jacksonville, Florida

Network, Announcers- CBS: Bill Macatee and Rich Gannon

Line: Jaguars by one-and-a-half.

Team W/L Records: Cleveland is 3-6; Jacksonville is 5-4.

Coaches: Eric Mangini is 31-42 overall, 8-17 in his second season with the Browns; Jack Del Rio is 58-55 in his eighth season with the Jaguars.

Last Week for the Browns: Lost an overtime heartbreaker to the Jets, 26-20. Outplayed for most of the second half the Browns stayed in it and Colt McCoy led a gut-check drive to tie the game with less than a minute left. Cleveland had a chance to win in the extra session but Chansi Stuckey fumbled inside the New York 35, and the Jets wound up winning on Santonio Holmes’s 37-yard catch-and-run with just sixteen seconds remaining in the extra session.

Last Week for the Jaguars: Stunned the Texans 31-24 when David Garrard hit Mike Thomas on a game-winning Hail Mary with no time left. Appropriately enough, Gus Johnson was on the call. Gus was kinda sorta excited over the play.     

All-Time Series: Jaguars lead, 8-4.

Last Meeting- January 3, 2010: On a frigid day by the Lake the Browns pounded Jacksonville for 214 rushing yards, 127 by Jerome Harrison, in a 23-17 victory. Cleveland built a 20-3 lead going into the fourth quarter and held on from there to notch its fourth consecutive win to close the 2009 season. David Garrard threw for 202 yards and two touchdowns in the defeat- Jacksonville’s fourth in a row to close the season.

Out, Doubtful or Questionable for Jacksonville: WR Mike Sims-Walker (ankle) is doubtful.

Out, Doubtful or Questionable for Cleveland: LB Scott Fujita (knee) is out; S Mike Adams (abdomen), WR Joshua Cribbs (foot), LB Matt Roth (illness), CB Sheldon Brown (shoulder), DE Kenyon Coleman (knee), QB Jake Delhomme (ankle), DT Shaun Rogers (ankle), G Eric Steinbach (calf) and G Floyd Womack (knee) are questionable.

What to watch for the Browns: Cleveland has suffered a bunch of tough losses this season but last Sunday’s overtime defeat cuts the deepest. The Browns lost not only the game to the Jets. They lost their winning streak, a chance at three straight conquests of the NFL’s elite and even, with both Pittsburgh and Baltimore losing, a shot to put the division back into play. At 4-5 this team would be a legitimate playoff contender. At 3-6? Not so much, and the margin for error is that much smaller.

This is supposed to be, after a crushing six top-ten-opponents-in-seven-weeks stretch, the “easier” part of Cleveland’s schedule. But there isn’t much easy about going on the road after an emotionally and physically draining game- won or lost- and facing an opponent coming off a miracle win. Jacksonville is really not very good. But they’re certainly good enough to beat a banged-up opponent with a rookie quarterback at home.

Lose this game and the season really will be over. Win this game and it’s a 4-6 record with a home shot against hopeless Carolina next week. Cleveland needs to come out in Jacksonville with the same execution and inspiration they’ve shown since September. If they do, and win, it will turn the season right back in the same direction it was going after New Orleans and New England. Playoffs or not there is still a ton to play for in 2010.

What to watch for the Jaguars: What to make of this Jacksonville team? The Jags are poor in the peripherals; their -54 point disparity is one of the NFL’s largest, they’re 28^th in total defence, 30^th against the pass and their four losses are by an average score of 35-10. On the other hand they’re 5-4, including a nice victory over the Colts, they’ve got some nice weapons on offense in Maurice Jones-Drew, Mike Thomas and Mike Sims-Walker and David Garrard has been superb so far, with a 104.9 rating, fifteen touchdown passes and seven interceptions.

Of course the Jags have pulled this act before. They were woeful statistically in 2009 yet were 7-5 and in playoff contention before collapsing in the final month. Jacksonville is an organization with serious problems- an inadequate market, apathetic fan base and lack of ready money to attract free agents- yet Jack Del Rio always seems to keep his team in the hunt in spite of the odds.

It’s a strange game. The Browns are 3-6, playing a 5-4 team on the road, yet most people seem to think they should win as a matter of course. There’s a great deal of scepticism surrounding the Jaguars, and with reason- top to bottom, this is probably the least talented team Cleveland will see to this point in the season, including the Bengals. But Jacksonville is fairly well-coached, has a solid veteran quarterback and doesn’t make too many mistakes. They can be beaten- badly- by superior opponents. But you won’t see this team beating itself. The Browns will have to earn this one.

Next Week for Both Teams: Cleveland hosts Carolina; Jacksonville heads to the new Meadowlands Stadium to take on the Giants.

Trivia: Cleveland has won three consecutive games in Jacksonville, defeating the Jags by the St. John’s River in 2001, 2002 and 2008.