San Francisco 49ers vs Cleveland Browns: Bye week came too soon for the Niners?

Undefeated

Yes, it can happen in the NFL. Usually, the teams love the bye weeks. It gives them some time to rest and heal all the small injuries that they sustain playing such a physical sport. And you have an extra week to prepare for your next opponent. But in this case, I don't think the Niners reaped all the benefits off the bye week. They didn't have many injured players that benefited from the extra rest, except Tevin Coleman, who might be back in the lineup after recovering from an ankle injury. And they were also rolling to start the season, winning all 3 of their games. Bye week in a period when the team is playing well can sometimes disrupt that rhythm and we'll see on MNF if the Niners managed to avoid that.

I already mentioned Tevin Coleman, who is returning into the already crowded backfield. Breida, Mostert, and Watson all carved a role for themselves at the running back position and it will be interesting to see in whose carries will Coleman bite. One thing is sure, there will be enough work to go around because they will look to run the ball against this defense that is allowing 4.6 yards per carry and is ranked 19th. Kyle Shanahan's offense is about establishing the running game and they should have no problems controlling the line of scrimmage against this defensive front.

Success on the ground usually opens up some opportunities in the passing game. They have some weapons there as well, but it is important for Jimmy Garoppolo to clean up his act a little bit because he threw 4 interceptions this season already. His defense bailed him out a couple of times, not allowing opponents to score a touchdown after getting a short field, but that is not going to work every time. Especially against some better competition.

Injuries

Luckily for him, Cleveland is missing their top 2 corners tonight. We all know what Denzel Ward can do on the field, while Greedy Williams was one of the brightest spots of this unit so far. After sliding into the 2nd round of this year's NFL Draft, he allowed a single reception in his coverage this season. And he is one of the best corners in the league when it comes to yards allowed per coverage snap. In their absence, TJ Carrie and Terrence Mitchell will do most of the work outside, while Eric Murray stays in the slot.

It is very difficult to figure out this Browns team. It seems like the perception about them is changing week to week. In the preseason, they were the dark horses in the AFC: They got humiliated on an opening day by the Titans at home. Critiques settle down a bit after a win over the Jets (w/o Darnold). After that, they lost to the Rams in a primetime game, after which a lot of people said that Freddie Kitchens was a bad choice for the head coach. They come right back after that to put 40 on arch-rivals the Baltimore Ravens on the road. But as we could see this week, Baltimore might not be as good as we might have thought earlier.

It's really confusing. But from what I've seen, there are two faces of this offense. The one that wants to force-feed their star receivers and plays completely out of rhythm. And the one that uses their young running back Nick Chubb and is trying to establish run, which is the trademark of Kitchens' offensive system. We'll see what's the gameplan for tonight. Airing the ball out recklessly vs this improved Niners defense could come with a cost.

Niners vs Browns best bet

I don't see much value in the traditional spread/total market. Lines are pretty accurate imho. I'm looking to solve the Gordian Knot when it comes to 49ers skill position. More precisely their wide receiver situation. Dante Pettis who was selected by San Francisco in the 2nd round last year and had a solid rookie season is going through a Sophmore slump right now. Rookie Deebo Samuel outplayed him so far and he took away the starting job from Pettis. Still, Dante is not going away and is playing nearly as many snaps as Samuel. Pettis is also more versatile and plays about 30% of his snaps in the slot as well. I believe that he is one of the rare players that needed this bye week to regroup and start playing like he did last year. With Williams and Ward out, this is a prime spot to put his name back on the map with a good performance.