We’re breaking down the three biggest storylines from Sunday’s 27-19 win over the Bengals.
1. Gashed between the 20s, Browns defense delivers inside red zone
The Browns were due for a day like Sunday.
Twice this season, Cleveland out-gained its opponent but came away the loser because of penalties, turnovers, big plays or a little bit of all of the above. At no point Sunday did the Browns own an advantage in total yards, yet they trailed for just a handful of minutes and led most of the way in a 27-19 victory.
The Bengals punted just twice Sunday and gained 451 yards of offense -- the second-most Cleveland has surrendered all season. Yet it was the Browns who never trailed in the second half and were able to comfortably end the game with a victory formation kneel-down.
This was the opposite of a frustrating performance like last week’s against the Steelers, when the defense was mostly stout but surrendered four costly big plays that turned out to be the difference. On this day, the Browns were the ones making the big plays in the big moments to keep an unexpectedly high-powered Cincinnati offense out of the end zone on all but one occasion.
“That’s what this game comes down to is points, man,” cornerback T.J. Carrie said. “If they can get down there, but they can’t score and they’ve got to kick field goals, you’ll definitely have a high success rate of winning that game.
“We do have some things to correct things from stopping them from getting down there, but the main part is we were really, really great in the red zone today and that was the difference in the game.”
The Browns were particularly good inside the red zone during the second half, when Cincinnati twice got inside the 5-yard line but came away with a combined three points.
Trailing 21-13 after the Browns opened the second half with a touchdown drive, the Bengals had first-and-goal from Cleveland’s 2-yard line after Joe Mixon converted a fourth-down run. One play later, Cincinnati was on its heels after Larry Ogunjobi and Bryan Cox combined on a sack. The next two plays didn’t gain any of it back, and the Bengals had to settle for a field goal.
“I just wanted to make a play for the team,” Ogunjobi said. “I got penetration and our line collapsed the pocket, which helped drive him back to get the sack.”
The Browns were just as tough in a similarly stressful situation early in the fourth quarter, when Cincinnati picked up yards by the bunch before facing a first-and-goal from the Browns’ 7. Mixon carried the ball on the next two plays and gained a combined 3 yards. On third-and-goal, Dalton threw incomplete, setting up a pivotal fourth-and-goal from the 4.
A third-down conversion from earlier in the drive, when Dalton ran 6 yards untouched up the middle, was fresh on the Browns’ mind as they lined up for the play.
“We’ve seen some opponents and teams try to do that quarterback sneak. We kind of anticipated it going into that drive,” Carrie said. “Once he hit us on the third down, we’re like, ‘all right, I definitely know if it’s a got-to-have-it situation, he’s going to do it.’”
He did, the Browns stuffed it and Cincinnati wouldn’t get the ball back again until it was well too late.
“We are playing confident football right now,” Ogunjobi said. “The guys along the defensive line are really focusing on making their tackles, tackling in space and trying to make plays for us. Of course, there are things that we have to work on when we watch film tomorrow, but it is good to get the win.”
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December 09, 2019 at 10:02AM
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3 Big Takeaways: Gashed between the 20s, Browns D delivers big stops inside red zone - clevelandbrowns.com
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