Denzel Ward grabbed a Joe Burrow pass and ran 99 yards for the first Browns touchdown, Baker Mayfield threw a sixty-yard pass to Donovan People-Jones for another, and Nick Chubb ran seventy yards for the final long-distance Cleveland score in the win.
Nick Chubb finished with 137 yards rushing and two touchdowns while Baker Mayfield threw for two touchdowns with 218 yards passing to lead the Browns offense.
The badly needed win improved the Browns to 5-4 and are only a game and a half behind first-place Baltimore at 6-2 and a half-game behind second-place Pittsburgh at 5-3.
I watched this game later as I was away for the day.
Brownie Bits
1) The Browns season may have been saved by Denzel Ward in the first quarter as the Bengals marched down the field and appeared to be ready to score the first touchdown.
Ward's 99-yard romp flipped the script from 7-0 Bengals to 7-0 Browns and allowed the Browns to settle a bit into the game after a tumultuous week.
2) What if the Bengals had scored on that first drive?
Well, it's hard to say but for a team struggling on the field and with questions about them in the locker room, it may not be hyperbole to say that the play by Denzel Ward may have saved the Browns from beginning to finger point or beginning to look for the sky to begin falling.
3) Baker Mayfield threw the ball down the field!
And it was a good throw too- to Donovan Peoples-Jones for a sixty-yard second-quarter score that broke the Bengals then and there as they would never again seriously challenge the Browns.
4) Baker Mayfield doesn't have to turn into Justin Herbert as far as throwing the football deep but cranking a few up over the course of a game will keep defenses honest.
As the final season of Drew Brees in New Orleans showed the importance of being able to keep defenses from cheating in and the ageless Tom Brady doesn't throw a lot downfield but he does make sure to crank it up a few times a game to show defenses that he is willing to try those types of throws.
5) Donovan Peoples-Jones finished the game with one other catch other than his touchdown catch but it still was a 26 yard gain and Peoples-Jones is the one wide receiver on this team that has the capabilities of being a deep threat that can change games.
6) And there was Nick Chubb, who gained 70 of his 137 yards on his touchdown run but still carried the football only thirteen times on the day.
You can make the argument that Chubb may be the top running back in the game if he isn't then the line ahead of him isn't very long!
7) I've been critical of Baker Mayfield's high throws that result in the pass-catcher not being able to catch the ball but on his throw to Donovan Peoples-Jones, DPJ didn't have to reach for the ball, it was where it needed to be and the Browns made a big play.
Amazing how that happens.
8) The defense deserves plenty of credit too with five sacks and three turnovers (two interceptions and a fumble) against the Bengals with John Johnson, who I criticized a few weeks back about his slow start after a big-money signing, intercepting a pass, and recovering a fumble.
Perhaps Johnson is starting to feel comfortable in the Joe Woods scheme now?
9) The pass rush overwhelmed Cincinnati with cornerback Troy Hill sacking Burrow twice and just missing a third.
When a cornerback rolls up numbers like that in one game, you have to wonder just what the Browns saw on tape to send Hill after Joe Burrow so often from his position in the slot.
10) Myles Garrett finished with 1.5 sacks against Burrow to move his total for the season to twelve to lead the league.
There is still a half-season to play but at this point, Myles Garrett would be the defensive player of the year.
11) Nick Chubb and Demetric Felton tested positive for Covid-19 as I was writing this but both players could play if they pass two tests before Sunday's game in Foxboro.
Both players are vaccinated so they have an easier path to playing than a non-vaccinated player.
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