Let’s be honest, I don’t think anybody was expecting offensive fireworks in this week’s Thursday Night Football matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos. Leading up to the game, most of the conversation revolved around the players that weren’t playing rather than the ones who would be playing. Cleveland was coming into this one without their starting quarterback Baker Mayfield and both starting running backs in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. In addition, both star wide receivers were questionable and up until gameday, Broncos quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was questionable as well. Many expected this game to be a grind-it-out low scoring game and that’s exactly what we got.
In a battle of 3-3 teams, Cleveland was favored at home even with all the backups thrust into action. D’Ernest Johnson was the back who assumed the lead duties in the absence of both Chubb and Hunt and Johnson sure stepped up in this one. Johnson was involved early and often and was running with a spring to his step from the opening drive. Cleveland marched down the field on that drive and after 2 pass plays, Johnson broke off a 20-yard carry, followed by a 10-yard carry and then tied a bow on it with a 4-yard touchdown run. Johnson finished the night with 22 carries for 146 yards and that rushing touchdown while also adding 2 catches for another 22 yards. He was easily the player of the game and was a lot of fun to watch.
The rest of the Cleveland offense was not as fun to watch. Case Keenum did just fine filling in for the injured Baker Mayfield and proved to be an effective game manager but wasn’t exciting. He went 21 of 33 for 199 yards passing and 1 touchdown. He played poised, smart football and protected the ball and did enough to get the win.
Cleveland’s wide receivers didn’t do much in this game. Jarvis Landry returned from a 4-game injury absence to lead the Browns in both targets and receptions. He was targeted 8 times and caught 5 passes for 37 yards. Odell Beckham Jr only caught 2 passes for 23 yards and Anthony Schwartz added 2 more for 22 yards.
Austin Hooper led the Browns in receiving yard with 42 yards on 2 receptions. The bulk of that was a 34-yard reception on the second play of the game. David Njoku added 2 catches himself for 18 yards. Harrison Bryant was last in the tight end trio with 1 catch for 15 yards.
On the Broncos side, Teddy Bridgewater did play after being questionable all week, but he didn’t exactly play well. He looked absolutely dreadful in the first half with the Broncos getting 4 possessions in the half which resulted in 3 of them being 3-and-outs and the other being a Bridgewater interception. He did pick it up in the second half and led a touchdown drive on Denver’s first possession out of halftime. He also tried to lead a 4th quarter comeback throwing his second touchdown pass in the 4th quarter, but it was too little too late. Bridgewater ended his night going 23 for 33 with only 187 passing yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.
Denver’s split backfield didn’t do much on the ground in this one and only had 12 carries between the 2 backs. Melvin Gordon led the team with 8 carries but only produced 18 yards on those carries while adding 2 receptions for 14 yards. Javonte Williams had only 4 carries for 20 yards, but he actually led the team in receptions with 6 catches for 32 yards. Both Gordon and Williams salvaged their fantasy days by being the recipients of the 2 Bridgewater touchdown passes.
Courtland Sutton let the Broncos in receiving yards catching all 5 of his targets for 68 yards. Tim Patrick showed up in the 4th quarter and caught 2 passes for 16 yards while Kendall Hinton caught 2 himself for 15 yards in that big opening drive of the second half. Tight end Noah Fant chipped in with 5 catches for 39 yards while tying Javonte Williams for the team lead in targets with 7.
Other Notes:
Cleveland’s defense finished the game with 2 sacks and an interception. They got a lot of pressure on Bridgewater and he avoided a few sacks that could have made this a big night for this defense.
Donovan Peoples-Jones injured his groin in pregame warmups and ended up not playing. Landry limped off the field late in the 4th quarter as well. Keep an eye on their statuses heading into next week.
We got a rare fullback touchdown in this game with Cleveland’s Johnny Stanton catching a 1-yard touchdown in the 3rd quarter. Go fullbacks!
That will do it for the week 7 Thursday Night Football Wrap Up. Make sure you head over to Razzball.com and check out Rudy Gamble’s Pigskinator as you get ready to set the rest of your week 7 lineup. You are always invited to follow me on Twitter @FantasyCoachJB and ask me any questions you may have. Good luck in your upcoming matchups!
