Fantasy watch: About an hour before Sunday’s game, one Browns fan was about to lose his voice while heckling Hill from the front row of a set of end zone seats.
Advertisement
The Houston game was a ideal storm of bad football and circumstance. That’s how many are left for them. Cleveland is 2-15 in its past 17 under Pettine, who was the last person to leave the Browns’ locker room following the game. “Tough one to wrap your brain around”, Browns coach Mike Pettine said. That summed up the mood behind the podium and inside the walls of the Browns locker room after Sunday’s lopsided, 37-3 loss to the Bengals.
The Browns fell behind early and often in losing 37-3 to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Dalton completed 14 of 19 passes 220 yards with touchdown passes of 23 yards to A.J. Green and 21 yards to Marvin Jones. It exceeded a 48-16 Bengals win in 1978. Davis completed 7-of-10 passes for 77 yards on Monday, with six completions in as many attempts on Cleveland’s scoring drive. He raced to Hill and pulled him back to the field.
“Very (frustrated)”, Kirksey said. You just have to make sure as you question everything that you realize this is our core, this is what we’re doing well, these are areas we need to improve. Four plays later, the Bengals resorted to Nugent’s 40-yard field goal and took a 20-0 lead with 3:20 left in the second quarter.
Davis, making his first start for the Browns ahead of the demoted Johnny Manziel, went 25-for-38 for 231 yards and an interception.
The Bengals got the ball first to begin the game, but had to punt after getting a first down.
Davis was the Browns’ 24th starting quarterback since 1999, and he suffered the same fate as so many before him. His rating was 71.2. Undrafted rookie Darius Jennings, who was activated from the practice squad Saturday, played extensively and had two catches for 11 yards. “They were able to generate some pressure”. I think we are better than we showed. “He was poised. He was into it”.
The problems are much bigger than quarterback. Receivers Andrew Hawkins and Taylor Gabriel were ensconced in concussion protocol and still unavailable. It’s not just Dalton who has been criticized in the postseason, but the whole team. Benjamin did not return to the game. Davis couldn’t find anyone open and threw incomplete with 10:07 left in the second quarter. He returned a tad later but eventually gave it up.
“It certainly wasn’t part of the plan”, Davis said.
Bengals cornerback Josh Shaw left with a back injury in the first half and declared questionable.
“To have a performance like that, it’s really hard”, he said.
Advertisement
Andy Dalton hit a milestone today against the Cleveland Browns, throwing for over 3,000 yards on the season. Cincinnati went up 14-0 on Dalton’s strike to Green. Williams did well to trip up Green and save an 84-yard TD. The Browns appeared to be totally confused before the snap because the Bengals had four receivers line up on the left side of the formation. Green ran right by Williams, who apparently bit on a play-action fake, and caught the pass to cap the 54-yard drive. We talk every week.
