Carolina Panthers VS Cleveland Browns: NFL Week 12 Free Pick

The Browns have been pretty solid all season long. They lose so man close games that it’s almost painful to write about. They give up 20.6 points per game and score 19.2 – yet they are 3-7 on the season. But last week’s loss was bad – they turned the Jaguars over 6 times (or Jacksonville gave the Browns the ball 6 times, however you want to look at it, I saw it as option 2) and they still couldn’t win. Against a blah-Jaguar defense, the Browns couldn’t run and had no consistency in the passing game.

But this one goes to the way the Browns play, and Jake Delhomme taking over at quarterback again. He throws the ball to the opponent a lot, and Carolina’s defense is actually pretty solid. If the Panthers just put on their smart-hats and run the ball 66% of the time, I think they cover that huge spread against the Panthers. 11 is too much to give the Browns, even against the worst team in football (which is exactly how I’d describe the Panthers).

If it was Seneca Wallace or Colt McCoy, I’d be all over the Browns here – but Delhomme is a guy I just have to bet against, and getting 11 points against him is just too much to pass up. I’ll do a crazy thing here, take the terrible Panthers to cover a spread.

Carolina Panthers (+11) @ Cleveland Browns