An inside look at Thursday night’s Jets-Browns Week 17 matchup in Cleveland.
Browns WR Amari Cooper vs. Jets CB Sauce Gardner
Cooper put up eye-popping numbers in Sunday’s win over the Texans.
The veteran receiver had 11 catches for 265 yards and two touchdowns.
The 29-year-old is having an outstanding season. Cooper has 72 receptions for 1,250 yards and five touchdowns this year.
He has gone over 100 yards and had a touchdown in each of his last two games.
“He’s Amari, has been one of the better receivers in football for a very long time and anytime you see those numbers, it’s going to put your antennas up,” Robert Saleh said. “We love our corners and they’re going to have their work cut out for him.”
Cooper may not be 100 percent for this game. He was listed as questionable with a heel injury on Wednesday.
The Jets don’t travel their corners with top receivers so it will be a group effort but the highlight will be when Gardner and Cooper match up.
Gardner is having another spectacular season.
He has been targeted less than any other cornerback with at least 500 coverage snaps.
He is first in yards after catch, allowing just 79.
He has allowed 28 receptions and a 70.7 quarterback rating against, both second in the NFL.
“The challenge for him is going to be to stay locked in and he is,” Saleh said of Gardner. “I’ll make sure I say this, because the way he approaches practice, games and all that stuff, meetings, he’s very deliberate. He’s very locked in.”
This is a matchup between two of the best defenses in the NFL and I think that will show.
The Jets can limit Joe Flacco and Amari Cooper.
The problem is going to be whether the Jets’ offense can move the ball at all on the Browns.
I think this one is close and the Browns find a way in the fourth quarter.
Browns 17, Jets 14
No ordinary Joe: The Jets will see a familiar face across the field on Thursday.
Browns quarterback Joe Flacco spent parts of the last three years with the Jets, including all of last year. He started four games last season, winning one in Cleveland.
Now, he’s the Browns’ fourth quarterback of the season and has guided them to a 3-1 record in his four starts.
The 38-year-old has gone over 300 yards in each of his last three starts. It makes you wonder why the Jets did not try to sign Flacco after Aaron Rodgers went down in September.
“We love Joe, first and foremost,” Saleh said. “Obviously, we spent a couple of years with him. I love him. I love the way he prepares, really pumped for him and the success he’s having, but it’s just the decision we made in terms of the quarterback room and the way we developed it over the course of OTAs and training camp and it was just decision that we made.”
Quite a Hall: Second-year running back Breece Hall is putting up impressive numbers just one year removed from ACL surgery.
Recently, Hall has become a bigger part of the passing game and it has given the offense a boost.
Hall had 12 catches for 96 yards last week against the Commanders to go along with 95 rushing yards.
The Browns surely will focus on slowing Hall.
“There’s going to be a lack of space, that’s for darn sure,” Saleh said, “but it’s going to be gritty, it’s going to be grimy and just having the same mentality that he’s taken over the last few weeks of finding every yard he can and guys being efficient, communicating and being violent.”
No passing zone: The Jets’ defense has an NFL-best streak of 33 straight games without allowing a 300-yard passer.
Tom Brady was the last quarterback to go over 300 against the Jets and that came at the end of the 2021 season when Brady was with the Buccaneers.
Since then, the Jets have been stingy.
It has also helped that opponents often have a lead in the second half and have run the ball, but the streak is still impressive.
Flacco has gone over 300 yards in each of his last three games, so the streak could be in jeopardy.
Myles to go: Jets quarterback Trevor Siemian is all too familiar with Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett.
In 2019, Siemian started for the Jets against the Browns on “Monday Night Football.”
His night, and his season, ended when Garrett sacked him and Siemian suffered a gruesome ankle injury.
Garrett is having another great season with 13 sacks and he could wreck this game against the Jets’ offensive line.
“He can do everything,” Siemian said. “Speed, power, they move him around. Sudden. When you think he’s running the corner, he’ll bull rush, so it’s important to know where he’s at for sure. He’s a problem.”