Johnny Manziel threw for the only Browns touchdown late in the first half to pull within 14-10 at the intermission.
The now 2-7 Browns have ten days off before visiting Pittsburgh.
Hard to believe,but between a Thursday appearance and a bye week-the Browns have just one game between now and the final day of November..
Brownie Bits
1) Of course,the first thing about this game is how did Johnny Manziel play?
15 of 33,168 yards and the one score aren't great numbers,but he didn't turn the football over and Manziel had very little in the way of help.
A great outing? No,but Manziel doesn't get blame for losing either...
2) Manziel actually was quite effective in the first half before the Bengals mixed things and wouldn't allow him to leave the pocket..
The odd thing was Mike Pettine in perhaps the first time a halftime interview was interesting,
Pettine said that Manziel was "OK but we need settle him down and stay in the pocket".
Which was exactly what the Bengals wanted to do and in the second half,Manziel and the Browns were largely ineffective...
3) It's pretty clear that expecting Johnny Manziel to sit in the pocket is a recipe for losing.
Manziel's one bright spot came off a scramble and then a nice pass on a line to Duke Johnson late in the first half.
If you expect Manziel to be in the same style as Josh McCown and play in the same system-you are setting him and you up to fail.
4) I did like what I saw from Isaiah Crowell last night at times.
Crowell put his head down and earned some hard yards (10 carries 38 yards) along with catching a few balls out of the backfield.
I think Crowell might be one of those backs that need 18 carries to get revved up and wear down a defense.
We won't know that until the Browns try it.
5) Dwayne Bowe caught a few passes (3 for 31 yards),so the Browns have something to show for their dollars,but he still seems to be less than enthused as far effort goes.
Only Mike Pettine might be less enthused about Dwayne Bowe than Dwayne Bowe is about football.
6) Most pivotal drive of this game came in the second quarter when Randy Starks stepped up and put a team in position to score.
Sadly,it wasn't his Browns.
Starks made a nice hit on a Gio Bernard run play,but had to tell everyone about doing his job and was called for a taunting penalty-good for 15 free Bengal yards.
7) Starks then clearly lined up in the neutral zone on a fourth down play for Cincinnati on the Browns six yard line.
I'm watching on TV and screaming "GET BACK" and Starks couldn't figure that out.
Andy Dalton's pass was incomplete and the Browns would have had the football.
Instead,the Bengals took the gift of a first down and scored on the next play.
8) The Browns tiny pass catchers sure didn't help as Taylor Gabriel and Travis Benjamin each dropped passes right to them.
Have you noticed that Travis Benjamin puts up nice numbers when he is the third or fourth option,but he is the number one receiver and the numbers just aren't there.
Benjamin is not that type of player and the Browns are using him that way....
9) The Browns would be well suited to use Duke Johnson more as a wideout.
Johnson's pass catching skills are excellent,I've seen little of his use as a running back to make me overly excited.
10) It was nice to see Nate Orchard arrive with a big play on Andy Dalton that forced a Bengal field goal,
Orchard didn't bit on the fake to the running back,stuck with Dalton and hauled him in.
Had Orchard not made that play,Dalton would have likely strolled into the end zone.
11) Finally,this.
I've been pontificating for years about the need for the Browns to be bad-2-14 style bad,not 5-11 mediocre.
Now that this looms as a possibility,you cannot complain about losing.
I'll point out the problems with this team,but I will not gripe about losing football games.
You have my word.
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