With that, let’s get into my first prediction: Thursday night’s matchup between the struggling Cleveland Browns and the 7-0 Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati.
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Cincinnati has stayed with New England, Denver and Carolina in the ranks of unbeatens thanks to its never-say-die approach.
Bengals on defense: The Bengals are coming off their best game of the year on this side of the ball, even if the Steelers did come up with 356 yards of total offense.
General manager Ray Farmer has a lot of good words to say about his prized second-year player.
“I think that’s just kind of the mindset that we have”. “Really, just kind of a trial run to see how it was going to feel and what the best way to do [things] going forward would be in terms of using it or not using it and all that”. “We’re trying to win a championship”.
After calling Manziel “a midget” last season, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis was more diplomatic this week, saying: “If Johnny Manziel is the quarterback, we played him a year ago.
This is a game for us to go out there and show the world our identity”. “We’d be halfway through the division and kind of holding serve”. It may be too late for the Browns to contend for a playoff spot, but they may be able to turn their season around and finish at.500. He passed for 80 yards, threw two interceptions and endured a few taunts from Bengals defenders, who relished the chance to take down the hyped QB.
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With Joe Haden out because of a concussion, Williams is likely to draw the assignment of covering Green, who is on pace for 105 catches and 1,483 yards, both of which would be career highs. Johnson hasn’t rushed for more than 50 yards in any of the eight Cleveland games this season, and he’s averaging just two yards per carry. He suffered rib and shoulder injuries October 25 in a 24-6 loss to the St. Louis Rams, then re-injured the ribs Sunday in a 34-20 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. He has six touchdowns in his last six games and has been alternating weeks with 100-yard games. Green already has four games in which he’s had less than 83 yards receiving and no scores through seven games. His abysmal record in the postseason (0-for-4) will be tested once again (it’s hard to believe the Bengals won’t make it after a 7-0 start), but this time he’ll be going in with more confidence, and more games to back up that confidence, than ever before. The Browns will need to stop Cincinnati’s defense from getting to their quarterback in order to be successful in this game. It is week nine and we still do not know what he can do.
