The Cleveland Browns will enter their first division matchup this season, starting with the Cincinnati Bengals. Both teams are in desperation mode and have their pre-season expectations on hold for now. Neither has been playing like a contender and lost the discipline of a championship contender.
This Sunday marks the return of star running back Nick Chubb from his gruesome knee injury from last season. It also marks a chance for Joe Burrow to get only his second career win over the Browns and can bring the Bengals a game closer to 500. There is still a lot of season left to go, but both teams are at rock bottom, like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. Hope for one of these teams to bust through their casket and dig their way out of the dirt to the surface of AFC North contention.
Game Information
Date: Sunday, October 17th
Start Time: 1:00 PM EDT
Location: Cleveland, OH
Stadium: Huntington Bank Field
TV Info: CBS
Betting Information
Point Spread: Cleveland +5.5 (-105) | Cincinnati -5.5 (-115)
Moneyline: Cleveland +210 | Cincinnati -250
Over/Under: O 41.5 (-110) | U 41.5 (-110)
Cleveland Browns
Offense
With Amari Cooper shipped off to Buffalo, Jerry Jeudy or David Njoku will have to step up to become the new go-to guy for the passing game. Jeudy is expected to get more targets, as he will now be the Browns' new WR1. The offense game plan will change as well, with Cooper being gone, and will most likely encourage Deshaun Watson to spread the ball around a lot more than before. They will face a Bengals defense that has permitted 210.8 passing yards per game this season. They will face one of the only two defenses in 2024 to allow the Panthers to gain more than 350 total yards of offense in a game.
The return of Nick Chubb should insert a spark into the offense. Hopefully, the status on D'Onta Foreman is clear and ready to go for this game. So, Chubb can have a reliever to share carries with him. Another veteran running back, Nyheim Hines, is also listed as questionable for this Sunday and can serve as another decent reliever for Nick Chubb. The Bengals' defense has allowed 146.0 rushing yards per game this season, which stands as the sixth worst in the league. This is a chance for the Browns to get their running game back up and going. A simple offensive game plan should be installed to work around their depleted offensive line.
Defense
Due to the Browns' offense not moving the ball down the field much. Their defense has been unsupported and left to spend more time on the field without much resting time between possessions. They have declined to the 19th-ranked scoring defense in the league, with 23.5 points permitted per game. Their defense hasn't done so well in causing turnovers, as they have a negative one turnover differential. However, the Bengals' offense has turned the ball over to the defense six times through six games. Which is the seventh most in the league so far.
The best thing this Browns' defense has been doing is rushing the quarterback. Myles Garrett and company have sacked the quarterback fifteen times through the first six games. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has been sacked twelve times through the first six games and was just sacked four times last game against the Giants. The Browns seem like the one team in the league that knows how to shut down Joe Burrow more than anyone. They are 5-1 overall against Joe Burrow's Bengals and held him to an 86.4 passer rating and a 10:5 touchdown to interception ratio in his six starts against Cleveland. Expect Jim Schwartz to send blitzes on Burrow throughout the majority of the game and let cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome play bully ball with his receivers like they always do when playing Cincinnati.
Cincinnati Bengals
Offense
The Bengals possess one of the most productive passing attacks in the games. They are sixth in the league for most total passing yards (1,498) and seventh for most passing yards per game (249.7). They are also the NFL's eighth-highest scoring offense through six games, with the 9th-best average of points per game (26.2). All of these proud statistics are mostly due to the play of superstar quarterback Joe Burrow.
Joe Burrow is having the best statistical year of his career so far. Being second in the NFL in touchdown passes (12), completion percentage (71.6), and quarterback rating (75.0). He has thrown for the 5th-most passing yards through six games with 1,578. Despite this terrific individual performance, the Bengals are sitting at 2-4 and should be 4-2. All due to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on Jamar Chase against the Chiefs in week two and a short field goal miss in overtime against the Ravens in week 5. This team has lost discipline and the power to finish off opponents they had in seasons past. Along with Joe, Ja'Marr Chase is having a spectacular year, being second in the NFL in receiving yards and tied for first in the NFL in touchdown catches.
Tee Higgins has yet to break out and should be able to play this game against a Browns secondary that allowed 180 receiving yards, nine catches, and two touchdowns combined to the DeVonta Smith/A.J. Brown duo last week. The Bengals are playing against a defense that has allowed 137.3 rushing yards per game. They can take advantage of that by giving Chase Brown more carries and still have Zack Moss in the mix to tire out the defense. Chase Brown is edging closer and closer to having a career day, and this Sunday, it will be against a Browns' defense that is 21st in the league in total rushing yards allowed. It should be about that time.
Defense
The Bengals' defense is coming off their best performance of the season over the Giants last Sunday Night. They held Giants quarterback Daniel Jones to an 18.2 quarterback rating and a 57.5 passer rating while forcing him to throw an interception. They held the entire Giants' offense to seven points and 309 total yards. This is the same defense that held Patrick Mahomes to one of his worst performances in week two at Kansas City. They forced him to two interceptions and held him to just 151 passing yards. They also held the rest of the Chiefs' offense to 286 yards.
They will face the second straight lackluster offense. It's an offense that has yet to score twenty points in a game. They are facing the 30th-scoring offense in the NFL, and they just traded away their top wideout, Amari Cooper, to the Bills. They will also be without Jerome Ford, and D'Onta Foreman is questionable to play this game. The Browns would be left with Nick Chubb without any relievers to take the load off of him this Sunday if Foreman gets declared out. Their unit, which has four interceptions, will face their easiest challenge at quarterback with Deshaun Watson and his depleted offensive line. Watson has been sacked 31 times, the most in the NFL, and has the second-worst QBR in the league with 21.6. Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard should have a field day with getting to Deshaun Watson, as they together racked up six of the Bengals' eight total sacks this season.
Prediction
We have seen this episode with the Bengals plenty of times before; they start the season on the other side of 500 and then play catch-up better than any other team in the NFL for the past two seasons. As Joe Burrow and the Bengals' offense has been heating up, Myles Garrett and the Browns' defense have been losing their bite and bark. Cincinnati's defense has been blazed up by elite quarterbacks this season but will play an offense that has yet to score 20 points in a game. Even though Nick Chubb will be back in game action for the first time since week 2 of last season, don't expect him to play nearly 30 minutes of the ball game.
Final Score: Cincinnati Bengals 31, Cleveland Browns 20
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