In The Red Zone – Browns (2-2) at Patriots (4-0) Preview – Week 5

This Week

The New England Patriots host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA at 1 p.m in an AFC Conference match up.

The Patriots are 2-0 at “the Razor” this season, 2-0 in the AFC East and 4-0 in the conference.  The Bengals are 0-1 on the road, 2-1 in the AFC North and 2-2 in the conference. 

Here are the rosters for the Browns and Patriots.  

The Line/Prediction

As of Wednesday the line on the game from Yahoo Sports is Patriots -16.5 . The over/under is 48.5.

My prediction is Patriots 45, Browns, 17.  Give the points and take the over.  I am 4-0 against the spread and have called the over/under three out of four times in 2007.

Tickets

The game is reported as a sell out.

Tickets to game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here. Many times tickets are released in the last 48 hours prior to the game.

Getting To The Game

If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game make sure you check out the links.

Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from the American Weather Service.

Click for stadium directions, parking information, parking map, specific MBTA train times for this game and a Gillette Stadium seating chart.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television

CBS is televising the game, it is a regional broadcast. The play-by-play duties will be handled by Greg Gumbel with Dan Dierdorf doing game analysis.  You can check here to see if you are getting the game from CBS and look for your local CBS Station. 

Radio

The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Capelleti does the color.

It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresch and the pregame show at 10 a.m. along the network.

The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.

Check this out for the low down on the Patriots Rock Radio Network and stations in your area.

If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.

All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots radio call is available on Channel 107, the Browns radio call is available on Channel 110.

 

Last Week

The Patriots whipped the Bengals on the road, 34-13 to improve to 4-0. The Browns beat the Ravens at home, 27-13 to move to 2-2.

History

This is the 21st meeting between the teams, the Patriots have won 5 of the last 6 and 3 straight against the Browns. 

This is the Brown’s second trip to “the Razor” they lost in 9-3 in 2003.  The teams last played in 2004 at Cleveland in a game won by New England, 42-15. 

The teams met once in the playoffs, when Bill Belichick’s Browns beat the Patriots 20-13 in Cleveland on New Years Day 1995.  It was Belichick’s only playoff win that has not come as head coach of the Patriots.

Cleveland leads the all-time series 12-8.

Connections

• Browns head coach Romeo Crennel was the Patriots defensive coordinator from 2001-2004.  He won 3 Super Bowls with the team before becoming the Browns head coach in February 2005. 
• Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was the Browns head coach from 1991-1995. He was named the franchise’s 10th head coach on Feb. 5, 1991, making him the NFL’s youngest head coach at the age of 38.
• Patriots defensive line coach Pepper Johnson played for the Browns from 1993-95 under head coach Bill Belichick. He was also a two-time captain, defensive MVP and All-American at Ohio State.
• Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli began his NFL career when Belichick hired him as a pro personnel assistant for the Browns in 1992.
• Both teams have linebackers from USC who’ve spent more than a decade in the NFL: Patriot Junior Seau is in his 18th season in the league, while Browns linebacker Willie McGinest is four years behind, at 14. McGinest, who was a first-round draft pick (fourth overall) by the Patriots in 1994, won three Super Bowls in New England and ranks third on its all-time sacks list with 78 career sacks.

Other News  

This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Browns. You can also see what Browns head coach Romeo Crennel has to say about the game in a conference call with the New England media.

The game marks the return of Patriots safety Rodney Harrison from a four game suspension by the NFL for HGH use. Here’s Harrison’s Wednesday locker room interview.  It is unknown if or how much Harrison will play.

The game also brings Romeo Crennel back to Foxboro for the first time as an NFL head coach. 

On Thursday, Tom Brady was named NFL Offensive Player of the Month for September.

Since 2003, the Patriots are 15-3 in October.

The Patriots have scored in all 16 quarters this season. Since they were shut out 21-0 at Miami on December 10, 2006 the Pats have scored in 39 of 40 quarters.

This is the second of four meetings against the AFC North this season. The last time the team played all four AFC North teams was in 2004 when they finished 4-1 as they also beat Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship game.

Since 2001, the Patriots are 11-2 against the AFC North including the playoffs.

This Tom Brady’s 113^th consecutive game. It is the third longest streak among NFL quarterbacks behind only Peyton Manning and Brett Favre.

The Patriots will be without defensive end Richard Seymour and wide receiver Troy Brown who are on the PUP List. Here is the injury list for the game.  TE David Thomas was placed on the IR Wednesday with a leg injury and is done for the season.  TE Marcellus Rivers was re-signed to take his roster spot.

News from this weeks opponent:

The Browns Joshua Cribbs was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for September.  He leads the NFL with 549 kick off return yards through four games.  He had a 99 yard TD return and has five returns of 30 yards or more this season.

The game returns former Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest to Foxboro.  Last week against Baltimore was his first start since last year after off season back surgery.

Browns offensive lineman Ryan Tucker returned to the team this week after a 4 week suspension for violation of the NFL’s steriods policy.  It was unkown if he would be active for the game.

Rookie cornerback Eric Wright was asked about facing a New England Patriots offense that has receiver Randy Moss.

‘Anyone that has a phrase named after him – when somebody catches the ball on someone you get ‘Mossed’ – that’s a force that definitely has to be reckoned with,” Wright said.

Browns cornerback Leigh Bodden had 7 tackles and an interception as week against the Baltimore Ravens.

WR Braylon Edwards is having a good season so far.  The former 1st round draft pick has 18 catches for 375 yards and 4 TD’s.

From USA Today’s Inside Slant on last week’s Cleveland victory over Baltimore:

COACHING: A – Hard to argue with a win, but the signs for the Browns are finally starting to be positive. For the previous two years, players had said they believed in Romeo Crennel but they didn’t play like it. Now they are playing like it, and there is finally some hope for the future. Crennel, a gentleman and a good man, is finally getting some deserved results.

Next Week

The Patriots visit the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium in Irving, TX.  Game time is at 4 p.m. and will be carried regionally by CBS and heard along the Patriots Rock Radio Network.