The NFL 2021 season stops for nothing and that remains the case on Christmas Day when we have a double header of action in the league, beginning with a pretty big match between the Green Bay Packers and the Cleveland Browns at Lambeau Field.
The Packers have already secured the NFC North title and now have their sights on the number one seed in the Conference. They know if they win out that position is theirs. The Cleveland Browns still have an outside chance of a wildcard spot in the AFC but those hopes diminish with a loss here.
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers open their Christmas presents with an 11-3 record to their name, which is pretty incredible when you consider the monumental beating they took on the opening week of the season to the New Orleans Saints. Since then they are 11-2 which is 11-1 with Aaron Rodgers as quarterback, after the trigger man was forced to miss the loss against Kansas City Chiefs after testing positive with Covid-19 and the fallout which came from that.
The Packers have won their last three matches, all high scoring affairs, and look to be hitting form at just the right time. Their offense is clicking nicely at the minute. Between now and the end of the regular season they will be hoping to get defensive players back and start making plays because they are unlikely to go through the playoffs without needing to stop a powerful offense if they are to win a Super Bowl title.
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Cleveland Browns
Injuries were heavily hitting the Cleveland Browns so the last thing they needed was Covid-19 having a big impact on their squad at a pivotal part of the season. That is what happened last week and that led to the Browns losing agonisingly late on the rearranged Monday night game against the Las Vegas Raiders. That means they have 24 hours less to recover and prepare for this match and they are closing in on must-win territory so that is all less than ideal.
Cleveland are said to still have 12 players on the Covid-19 list and although Baker Mayfield is expected to play, the likes of Kareem Hunt, Jarvis Landry and Jedrick Wills are expected to miss out. Center JC Tretter is the latest added to that list. Cleveland have been hit on both sides of the ball but they were still able to be competitive against the Raiders courtesy of Nick Chubb. He is likely to have to carry the weight of the offense if the Browns are going to prevail here.
Betting
This is obviously a hard match to bet on when you consider we won’t know who is and isn’t available for the Cleveland Browns for sure right up until game time. The consensus is that the Browns will be stronger than they were last week but this offense hasn’t been firing for a while now and the one thing they are going to have to do in order to stay close to this Green Bay Packers unit is score points because the champions of the NFC North are rampant offensively at present.
Only twice in the last nine weeks have this Cleveland offense put more than 17 points on the board and you would imagine they are going to have to go into the 20s and above to be competitive here. That is possible against this Packers defence which has coughed up 30 points to Chicago and a bashed up Baltimore Ravens in recent weeks but they are least had the opportunity to practice fully ahead of the game and put plans in place. Cleveland haven’t had that chance and with Green Bay keen on the number one seed I expect them to have way too much for a misfiring Browns side.
Tips
Back Green Bay Packers (-7) to beat Cleveland Browns for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
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