THE BOTTOM LINE
It's the eighth time in PBS history that two overall No. 1 quarterbacks meet as Burrow looks to avenge Mayfield's last-minute touchdown drive last year that blotted out his own two-minute comeback and gave the Browns a 37-34 thriller.
But don't kid yourself. It's an enormous rock-em-sock-em game for the defenses that are both ranked in the top 10 against the run. It's going to be decided by how much pressure the third-ranked Browns and their defensive ends Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney get on Burrow and if the Bengals No. 7 rush defense can play up to its stats and corral the NFL's top rushing offense.
Let's face it. This is a game the Bengals had in mind when they committed nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to the defense in the past two free agency seasons. That's because every division game is what they had in mind.
In the previous two years the Bengals had allowed 153 yards per North game on 5.1 yards per carry. After wins in Pittsburgh and Baltimore this season, those numbers are 80 and 4.1 respectively. Granted, a small sample size, but headed in the right direction and what they need on Sunday.
With the reduced Mayfield nursing an injured non-throwing shoulder, look for the Browns to rely on the run even more to set up the bootlegs and rollouts that have tortured the Bengals ever since Mayfield arrived in 2018. Mayfield has the same 5-1 record Baltimore's Lamar Jackson has against the Bengals with a 111.1 passer rating, 15 points below his rating this year and 21 points below his career rating.
He's drilled 17 touchdown passes in the series off his array of play-action out-of-pocket throws, five the last time they met. One of the reasons the Bengals were in it until the end was how they handled the run game (82 yards on 22 carries), a month after they gave up 215 yards rushing in Cleveland. The Bengals need the same kind of effort Sunday against Chubb, one of the league's top backs, and never mind the injured Kareem Hunt isn't playing. They have worthy backs coming off the bench in Browns offensive line coach Bill Callahan's interchangeable zone schemes.
And the Bengals don't want a sleepy offense to get hot, like what happened in New York last week. The Browns haven't scored 20 points in a month.
One of Callahan's disciples, Bengals offensive line coach Frank Pollack, is looking for his own zone scheme to get running back Joe Mixon jolting. The only way they'll keep Garrett and Clowney off Burrow is with a consistent run game they haven't been able to scrape together against strong interior fronts like the Jets last week and the Bears in Chicago the second game of the season. Browns tackles Malik Jackson and Malik McDowell have been tough to move in the middle of a defense that's ranked third overall and is in the top five of just about every important pressure category.
After a year of tough sledding on short-yardage, the Bengals need a couple of confident conversions early against a big front that has given them problems in the past. They don't want to lose time of possession to a Cleveland offense that has a four-minute edge on them during the season.
And Mixon has saved his best for the Browns. His career-high 162 yards came in the win over Mayfield, his old college teammate, and he averages 93 yards per on 4.8 per carry in the series.
Check the run stats after it's over. Then check the scoreboard. In all likelihood, if everyone holds on to the ball, it's going to say the same thing.
"Media" - Google News
November 07, 2021 at 07:11PM
https://ift.tt/3CTv9fZ
Media Roundtable: Bengals-Browns Put Defenses On Display in AFC North Slugfest - Bengals.com
"Media" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2ybSA8a
https://ift.tt/2WhuDnP
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Media Roundtable: Bengals-Browns Put Defenses On Display in AFC North Slugfest - Bengals.com"
Post a Comment