Browns 32 Bengals 13

[16thBBall Fan]

Final it was all trick without no treat for the Bengals tonight. Well onto the Panthers next week.

[nkypete]

I want to go on record and say that the Bengals did not lose tonight because they were missing Ja'Marr Chase.  They lost because they got beat up physically on both sides of the ball.  With the loss of 3 DBs, the Bengals have some serious holes as they go forward.

[Voice of Reason]

Key play in the game tonight and it isn't close - Awuzie getting hurt. He is sooo underrated. That whole defensive scheme tonight depended on him being out there one on one with Cooper. When he got hurt, almost every big play by the Browns was passing plays to Cooper. 

[Voice of Reason]

This is true on every level of football including the NFL. The top level teams have at least 3-5 superstars that can make plays against anyone. If I rank the Bengals top players, players who will make the Pro Bowl roster, here is who I would list:

1. Burrow

2. Chase

3. Awuzie

4. Reader

Three of those four were not on the field the second half of this game. 

[16thBBall Fan]

What’s the report on Awuzie??

[Coach112]

It's crazy how this game was nearly identical to last years game in CLE.  

Driving and moving the ball with ease on the first drive and then it ends in an interception and all the wheels fall off.

Something about CLE that this staff and team can't figure out.  It just might be one of those situations where they have our number.  

0-3 to start divisional play is not great.  I still believe the schedule makers screwed us with all our division road games in prime time. 

Oh well.  Have to get thru CAR, who is very frisky, and getting healthy at the bye.

They have been a second half in game team and will now have to be a second half season team.

[futurecoach]

8 hours ago, nkypete said:

I want to go on record and say that the Bengals did not lose tonight because they were missing Ja'Marr Chase.  They lost because they got beat up physically on both sides of the ball.  With the loss of 3 DBs, the Bengals have some serious holes as they go forward.

Agree and disagree. Injuries definitely hurt, and they definitely got beat up physically, but part of what helped get them beat up physically is not having Chase. With Chase the offense probably doesn’t suck basically all game. Which since the offense did suck and couldn’t score. It allowed the Browns to play with the lead all game, and eventually wore the Bengals defense down where they could run or pass against a depleted secondary. Then defensively with the Browns having the lead, it allowed the Browns pass rush to pin their ears back and go. 

[futurecoach]

18 minutes ago, Coach112 said:

It's crazy how this game was nearly identical to last years game in CLE.  

Driving and moving the ball with ease on the first drive and then it ends in an interception and all the wheels fall off.

Something about CLE that this staff and team can't figure out.  It just might be one of those situations where they have our number.  

0-3 to start divisional play is not great.  I still believe the schedule makers screwed us with all our division road games in prime time. 

Oh well.  Have to get thru CAR, who is very frisky, and getting healthy at the bye.

They have been a second half in game team and will now have to be a second half season team.

Agreed. Sometimes a team just has another teams number, and apparently the Browns have the Bengals number. I know last year the Bengals took a beat down to the Browns before the bye to enter the bye week 5 and 4. Which the schedule after the bye week last year also looked really tough, and they overcame it. They will have to do that again this year. Only issue is with the division record, they probably will be playing more to make it as a wild card this year. 

[futurecoach]

For me personally there are still only three games left that I wouldn’t be to confident in going into the game. Those three games are the Bills, Chiefs, and Browns. Even with the injuries, I definitely think the Bengals could and possibly should win the rest of them, especially assuming Chase comes back at some point. 

[spindoc]

58 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

Agree and disagree. Injuries definitely hurt, and they definitely got beat up physically, but part of what helped get them beat up physically is not having Chase. With Chase the offense probably doesn’t suck basically all game. Which since the offense did suck and couldn’t score. It allowed the Browns to play with the lead all game, and eventually wore the Bengals defense down where they could run or pass against a depleted secondary. Then defensively with the Browns having the lead, it allowed the Browns pass rush to pin their ears back and go. 

Can't forget that the Browns also played without Denzel Ward.  I realize that they don't negate one another, but he's significant missing piece on their side of the ball as well.

[nkypete]

38 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

Agree and disagree. Injuries definitely hurt, and they definitely got beat up physically, but part of what helped get them beat up physically is not having Chase. With Chase the offense probably doesn’t suck basically all game. Which since the offense did suck and couldn’t score. It allowed the Browns to play with the lead all game, and eventually wore the Bengals defense down where they could run or pass against a depleted secondary. Then defensively with the Browns having the lead, it allowed the Browns pass rush to pin their ears back and go. 

Ok, I'll try to support my point some more.  Burrow had less than 2.5 seconds to get rid of the ball due to the onslaught of the Browns rush and the incompetence of the Bengals OL.  A typical QB needs slightly over 2.5 seconds to be consistently successful (those few tenths of a second make a difference).  Burrow's confidence in his backside protection had to be lacking.  Chase might have been able to scrap together 50 yards or so like Higgins and Boyd, but the result would have not been any different.  Chase is a difference maker, for sure, but nobody at WR can make up for as bad as the rest of the team was.  Burrow did his best, but he was either getting sacked, throwing simple swing passes to Mixon who got crushed after short gains, or standing on the sideline watching Chubb/Hunt run it down their throats.  Chase also could not have done anything to stop a journeyman QB who went off for 278 yards, a passing TD and a rushing TD.  I love Chase as much as anyone.  I love the Bengals offense when it allows Burrow the time to carve up a defense.  But I fear that the Browns just showed the rest of the league the blueprint for taking down the Bengals on a weekly basis as long as those teams have the personnel to execute the same plan.  Looking at the rest of the schedule, I'm thinking that many of the remaining Bengal opponents will know how to mimic what the Browns did.

[Coach112]

6 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

What’s the report on Awuzie??

Torn ACL. Out for the season.

[futurecoach]

3 hours ago, nkypete said:

Ok, I'll try to support my point some more.  Burrow had less than 2.5 seconds to get rid of the ball due to the onslaught of the Browns rush and the incompetence of the Bengals OL.  A typical QB needs slightly over 2.5 seconds to be consistently successful (those few tenths of a second make a difference).  Burrow's confidence in his backside protection had to be lacking.  Chase might have been able to scrap together 50 yards or so like Higgins and Boyd, but the result would have not been any different.  Chase is a difference maker, for sure, but nobody at WR can make up for as bad as the rest of the team was.  Burrow did his best, but he was either getting sacked, throwing simple swing passes to Mixon who got crushed after short gains, or standing on the sideline watching Chubb/Hunt run it down their throats.  Chase also could not have done anything to stop a journeyman QB who went off for 278 yards, a passing TD and a rushing TD.  I love Chase as much as anyone.  I love the Bengals offense when it allows Burrow the time to carve up a defense.  But I fear that the Browns just showed the rest of the league the blueprint for taking down the Bengals on a weekly basis as long as those teams have the personnel to execute the same plan.  Looking at the rest of the schedule, I'm thinking that many of the remaining Bengal opponents will know how to mimic what the Browns did.

That’s the thing all the things you said are all things that had a lot to do because Chase wasn’t playing. Chase plays, that gives the Browns a serious weapon that changes some of what they may do on defense. Chase plays that gives Burrow someone else that could possibly get open in that short amount of time he had. Which if you seen on some of those sacks, part of the issue was literally no one was open on some of those plays. If Chase plays they probably don’t get shut out for 3 quarters. Chase playing also means other guys are guarding Higgins and Boyd and less focus on them. Chase playing probably changes a lot of the dynamic of the game. Which part of the dynamic of the game was the Browns being a running team, with a defense that has a good pass rush getting to play with a lead all game long. Which then allows the Browns to run and wear down a defense, and then opens up the pass game. Same with on the Bengals offense, them doing nothing for 3 quarters allowed the Browns to have a lead and then expand it. Allowing the Browns defenders to truly pin their ears back and just go. 
 

Now would the Bengals have won with Chase? That’s hard to say, since the Browns do seem to have the Bengals number. However, the whole dynamic of the game definitely probably changes some with Chase on the field. Especially considering how Chase was that security blanket for Burrow to throw to at times when he is pressured. 

[futurecoach]

3 hours ago, spindoc said:

Can't forget that the Browns also played without Denzel Ward.  I realize that they don't negate one another, but he's significant missing piece on their side of the ball as well.

No doubt! 

[Voice of Reason]

28 minutes ago, Coach112 said:

Torn ACL. Out for the season.

Afraid of that. It looked similar to what happened to Mitchell Berger - a hard plant to the ground to stop/cut.