The new Browns face the old Browns in Baltimore on Sunday, on a day when the old Browns will celebrate 30 years of being the Ravens.
Adding insult to injury is the fact that the new Browns are 11.5-point underdogs in the game.
Via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, a couple of key Cleveland players aren’t happy with that betting line.
“It is definitely disrespect, but we just have to go in there and take care of business regardless of what people may think and who they’ve got winning or losing the game,” Ward said Wednesday, via Cabot. “We have to go in and try to beat the odds. They put us against the odds, we’ve we got to go in there and try to beat it.”
Said Jeudy, “That’s disrespectful. But at the end of the day, if they think Baltimore could beat us like that, we’re going have to prove another thing. We’ve got to do our job and do our best to win the game.”
The line is set by the betting trends. The disrespect comes from the fact that the sportsbooks believe that an 11.5-point spread will prompt equal betting on both teams.
It’s perception, not reality. But if the underdogs can convert that perception into the reality of extra motivation, good for the Browns.
Cleveland played well in a one-point loss to the Bengals. The Ravens blew a 15-point lead in a one-point loss to the Bills. Last year, after the Ravens lost narrowly to the Chiefs in a Week 1 rematch of a playoff game, Baltimore came home and was upset by the Raiders.