Total Domination: Week 9
A weekly look at games that could exceed or fall short of betting market expectations. Bettors can leverage recommendations at the sportsbook, while DFS players can use the specific player recommendations mentioned to their advantage. Steve Repsold deep dives each recommendation and advises us the level of bet confidence expressed in units (example: 2u = 2 units).
Week 9
Kansas City Chiefs (-8.5) at Cleveland Browns Over 52
The dreadful Hue Jackson era has come to an end and a new day may have dawned in Cleveland. May. After so long, it’s hard not to be skeptical of the Browns and any decision they make. Gregg Williams, for all his bluster, has not been a hot coaching commodity, although it would be very hard for him to be worse than Hue (but he might try). Wisely, ownership has turned over the reins of the offense to Freddie Kitchens, formerly the running backs coach and a student of Bruce Arians. While having BA’s name attached to you instantly gets you buzz, it remains to be seen how effective he is. If nothing else, he’ll still be saddled with Todd Haley’s playbook.
Still, adding all of that up almost certainly must be a net positive for the Browns’ offense. They’ve looked to be right on the edge of competence a few times this season, although for the most part that hasn’t translated to the scoreboard or the box score. To their credit, they’ve faced some tough defenses, but they still managed only 23 points against Tampa Bay’s woeful defense. The Chiefs’ defense, particularly on the road, hemorrhages points and yards. They’ve allowed 385 or more total yards in every game but one (home and away). If the Browns are just a bit better now sans Hue (and I believe they are), they’ll be good enough to put up points against KC.
It’s hard to say enough good things about the Chiefs’ offense, but most of it has been said a dozen times already. The key development of the last few weeks that’s worth noting is the 2018 arrival of Kareem Hunt. He had a very sluggish start to the season in touches and efficiency, but the truly concerning thing was that he appeared to have been phased out of the passing game. All those issues have been smoothed out with the final component being his six targets in three consecutive weeks.
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