With the undefeated Bengals rolling into the second half of the season off Thursday night’s lunch-bucket-punch-the-clock 31-10 victory over the Browns before a delirious sell-out of the faithful at Paul Brown Stadium, they’re making a case for the best Bengals team of all-time.
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The third-year emergence of Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert continues, and he might be the most important player on Cincinnati’s offense not named Andy Dalton.
NFL Network is the only show in town from here on out and it begins with a tough sell, the Cleveland Browns (2-6) at the Cincinnati Bengals (7-0).
Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel was better than he was in his first career start, which came against the Bengals a year ago in Cleveland. He has 16 catches for 182 yards and two touchdowns this season.
Tyler Eifert had a monster game against the Browns, hauling in three TDs.
So did the rest of his team.
The Bengals improved to 8-0 on the season, becoming just the 33rd team in National Football League history to open a season with that record and just the 22nd in the Super Bowl ear.
But, eight weeks into the season, Eifert is blowing what most would have considered lofty expectations completely out of the water.
“A matchup monster”, said wide receiver Marvin Jones. “We take a lot of pride in going out and trying to get stops, and things like that”. The Browns are 2-7. After the game, Manziel received little support from head coach Mike Pettine.
Dalton made hardly any of those in a game that had special significance. The Bengals erased the memories from last year’s 24-3 debacle on “Thursday Night Football” against the Browns.
This time, he was almost flawless. Dalton went 21 of 27 for 234 yards with a passer rating of 139.8. He seemed to have matured considerably, from the last time the Bengals saw him under center. Dalton also played lead blocker on Sanu’s 25-yard TD reverse in the fourth quarter, a play that took the Browns by such surprise that there was nobody there for the quarterback to touch.
Heading into the halftime locker room speeches, the Bengals owned a 14-10 lead.
The Browns offense couldn’t get much going in the second half.
“I’m pretty upset”, said Manziel, who finished 15 of 33 for 168 yards and was sacked three times, all in the fourth quarter.
With Green and Jones on the outside and a consistent running game forcing defenders to bite on play action, there just aren’t enough players on the field to also cover Eifert. The Bengals were up 14-3 and the game was shaping up to be a lopsided affair. That goes for Cleveland as well as Monday night verse Houston.
“I feel like it can be really special when we turn this around in Cleveland”, he said. “We understand that. It’s hard to do”. “Got to get a few completions to get into a rhythm and that didn’t happen the second half”. He just started practicing last Thursday, and already has two games under his belt this season after missing the first six while on PUP.
His performance in the 31-10 loss to the Bengals wasn’t exactly reassuring, but we’ve seen worse from him. But in the second half, he was just 4-of-15 for 40 yards and was sacked three times.
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“I think it’s easy for me because I’m a guy who never lost sight of the fact that it is a business”. Now Stafford is struggling behind the 31st-rated offensive line, they still don’t have a running back, and the front office has been gutted (the coaching staff is next).
