Browns Should Have Stomped Bengals Worse. But I'll Take it

With 12:13 remaining in the third quarter, the Browns have a 35-7 edge on the Bengals.

Terry Pluto's first half scribbles cover most of it, with some thoughtful depth behind it.

Gregg Williams has the Bengals where he wants them, and has let slip the dawgs of war.  Joe Mixon/their run game can't help them much, and Gregg tends to blitze up the gut anyway.

Notable in the first half was (up 21-0) Kitchens went for it on fourth (and one or something).

I like it.  Had it failed, the Bengals would have had the ball inside their own ten yard line, and the Browns have Nick Chubb and possibly the best inside offensive line in the NFL.

The Bengals just scored a TD (great pass by Dalton).

The referees are taking over, and have facilitated two Bengals TDs with pantload penalties.  I think this is incompetance and not a "fix", but it's still infuriating.

On the latest one, Myles Garrett was penalized for not stopping in mid-air a couple nanoseconds after Dalton had thrown the ball.

The Browns just won.  Everything I wrote in my last post panned out -blush-blush-. On to the Texans.

Notes:

1: Baker Mayfield had lots of time to throw.  I'm not sure why right now, except I think the tight end stifled Hubbard, and Baker's mobility and the interior line simply did a great job.

2: Njoku caught almost every target.

3: So did everybody else (*you will see the Chubb TD catch all week.  I told you before he was drafted that he is a good receiver*).

4: Freddie Kitchens is a freaking genius, and John Dorsey has to make sure he sticks around.  He shouldn't hire any Head Coach who won't agree to keep him.

(Bruce Ariens shot to the top of my list when he said he'd keep Freddie and "consider" keeping Williams).

5: But I repeat that the ass umption that Gregg Williams must be replaced as Head Coach is ignorant.

Even if he loses a couple more games, Gregg (and Kitchens) will have engineered a major reversal.  Williams (and btw screw his w/l record with an untalented Buffalo team in his first stint---remember riding Bill Belichick out on a rail!?!)

"Interview"---these pundits are clueless...but I digress:

The 2018 Browns can toe the line with any team in the NFL, and fortunately, the Saints, Steelers, and Chiefs are behind them.

They're the second-best team in the AFC North with the second-best (for the moment) quarterback.

...but I digress:

6: This defense will again rank low in yardage and points yielded, but very high in turnovers.  It's still getting better, with two rookie starters, second year starters, and 2 more veteran starters from parts unknown.

7: This was textbook coaching/playcalling.  Two penalties on the Browns were pantloads, and facilitated two Bungles TDs.

8: Kitchens, up by 21 points, went for it on 4th and one inside the Bengals' 10 yard line (rather than kick a field goal).

If you actually understood analytics, you would understand that the worst-case was the Bengals offense taking over well inside their own ten yard line.

You would also realize that Nick Chubb is a good bet to get one yard.

Pre-Chubb, maybe you just take the field goal.

8: Gregg Williams never went "prevent" (much).  He kept sending four (or more) passrushers, and manning up on the outside receivers.

Generally, this win was between Baker Mayfield and coaching (of course I mean in addition to team talent).

The defense scored a touchdown off a turnover here.  Had the Browns failed to convert that fourth down (and then score a touchdown), and this defensive TD not happened, the Bengals might have won.

I'm still not satisfied...

Nevermind bring on the Texans!