Mike Pettine Right To Be Wary of ‘Trap Game’ in Jacksonville

The Cleveland Browns were hot heading into Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars this week. But after a 24-6 final score, it looks like Browns head coach Mike Pettine was right to be wary of a classic ‘trap game’ against the Jaguars. Pettine and the Browns found nothing going right on offense and pretty much everything they wanted to do was stuffed by a Jaguars defense that has found itself in recent weeks.

In an Akron Beacon Journoal piece from earlier this week Mike Pettine was quoted saying:

"There are reasons why there are people out there saying that this is probably the week for Jacksonville. All the circumstances where you would say this is a trap game and I think as a staff we’re just as curious to see. We’ll talk about it all week, but we’re curious to see how we will come out of the gate, as well."

Writer Marc Sessier at NFL.com was quick to point out that Brian Hoyer is having an exceptional time and the running game is going against a mediocre run defense:

"Brian Hoyer, Cleveland’s upstart passer, has a league-leading 55.8 completion percentage on passes of 15-plus yards through the air. Jacksonville’s defense, meanwhile, has allowed 22 completions of 20 or more air yards, the most in the NFL."

Unfortunately for Hoyer he posted an abysmal completion percentage of just 39% while the running game sputtered to just 69 yards and couldn’t find itself against a defensive line that seemingly had answers at every turn.

This turned into a perfect trap game for the Browns and led to a runaway ending despite staying close up to just 6:00 minutes left to play. Mike Pettine was right to be wary, but unfortunately fretting over the details wasn’t enough as the Jaguars put the Browns away for their first win of the season, bring the Browns down to 3-3.