THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL WEEK 17: NEW YORK JETS AT CLEVELAND BROWNS

BY ADAM GREENE

Our 2023 Thursday Night Football journey with Amazon Prime ends not with a bang, but a whimper as the hapless New York Jets travel to Ohio to take on the surging Cleveland Browns.

The rivalry between the two teams only starts after the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 when the Browns, originally part of the old AAFL, then the NFL, moved over to the AFL to even out the teams along with the Pittsburgh Steelers. This will just be the 30^th time they’ve faced off in the 53 years since, with Cleveland holding a 15-14 advantage in the series.

They last played on Sep. 18 last season with the Jets holding on to a 31-30 victory. Joe Flacco (now with the Browns) was 26 of 44 passing for 307 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions for New York in the win. Breece Hall rushed seven times for 50 yards. Garrett Wilson caught eight passes for 102 yards and two TDs.

In the loss, Jacoby Brissett (now with the Washington Commanders) was 22 of 27 passing for 229 yards, one touchdown and a pick. Nick Chubb (now out for the season) rushed 17 times for 87 yards and three scores. Amari Cooper caught nine passes for 101 yards and a TD.

NEW YORK JETS AT CLEVELAND BROWNS (-7, O/U: 35.5)

Location: Cleveland Browns Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio

Broadcast: Amazon Prime

Kickoff: Dec. 28, 8:15 p.m.

NEW YORK JETS (6-9)

Well, now that their playoff hopes officially wrapped, all the Jets can do is screw up their potential draft positioning and that’s exactly what they did last week in a 30-28 win over the Washington Commanders. Trevor Siemian, getting the starting call once again, was 27 of 49 passing for 217 yards, one touchdown and an interception in the win. He scrambled four times for 18 yards and was not sacked. Breece Hall rushed 20 times for 95 yards and two scores. He added 12 receptions for 96 yards. Garrett Wilson caught nine passes for 76 yards. The defense never laid a glove on Jacoby Brissett but did hold Washington to a total of 102 yards on the ground and a Matt Canada-like 245 total yards of offense.

CLEVELAND BROWNS (10-5)

Cleveland notched its third win in a row, knocking off the Houston Texans 36-22 in a battle of potential Wild Card teams last week. Joe Flacco remained hot, finishing 27 of 42 passing for 368 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Amari Cooper set a new franchise record with 11 receptions for 265 yards and two touchdowns. The defense sacked Case Keenum three times, picked him off once and held Houston to a total of 72 yards on the ground.

THE PICK

This isn’t exactly a Joe Flacco revenge game, but Robert Saleh and Jets GM Joe Douglas should rightly feel that their team, with their elite defense and offensive weapons, would be 10-5 and favored in this contest if they’d just been smart enough to bring back Flacco when Aaron Rodgers went down four plays into the season. Browns 31, Jets 17

Last week

Straight up: 12-4

Against the spread: 10-6

Season

Straight up: 124-74

Against the spread: 110-88

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

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