How the Browns defense limited Joe Burrow, Bengals offense in Week 1 win

May 26, 2024

The Cleveland Browns stymied the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday in a 24-3 victory at home. Here’s what you need to know:

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow went 14-of-31 passing for 82 yards and zero touchdowns before being pulled late in the fourth quarter. Burrow entered this game as the NFL’s highest-paid player after he and the Bengals agreed to a five-year, $275 million contract extension with $219.01 million guaranteed on Thursday.
The Browns defense limited the Bengals offense to 142 total yards, 97 of those happening in the first half. Cincinnati’s offense averaged 360.5 yards per game in 2022, which ranked eighth in the NFL.
The Bengals went 2-for-15 on third down. The Browns defense recorded three sacks.

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

A rusty start to the Bengals season

A little rust was expected. Issues dealing with an annoying, consistent rain make sense. An uphill slog against a defense that has always given them trouble was noted. Even with all those built-in excuses, what happened to the Cincinnati offense on Sunday was stunning. This was an all-time stinker for a Bengals offense that looked like one that spent all of camp without its starting quarterback. Burrow’s previous career low for passing yards in a game was 148. Cincinnati managed only six first downs.

This wasn’t just about missed passes. The Bengals were sloppy in basic execution. They had two delay-of-game penalties, an illegal formation, missed communication on hot reads, free runners off the edge and every other way a team can error. The question next is how much of this was an accumulation of calves and contracts and how much of it is a real issue of long-term concern. — Dehner

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Burrow couldn’t find a rhythm with Higgins

Maybe the most surprising element of the offensive ineptitude was the inability for Burrow to connect with Tee Higgins. He targeted his star eight times without a single reception. Twice,it appeared Higgins ran a different route than Burrow expected. Multiple times, they could not take advantage of one-on-one coverage. The thought was these guys could pick up without much practice together and immediately snap into shape. For Higgins, in particular, that was not the case and an ugly start to his contract year. — Dehner

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Bengals special teams couldn’t help

The Bengals special teams didn’t help matters in the least, leaving the team fighting poor field position all day. Punter Brad Robbins was called into duty often and struggled with short punts and an untimely touchback. Rookie Charlie Jones didn’t offer much as a punt returner and Evan McPherson, after hitting every kick this preseason, missed from 51 yards. One of those days. — Dehner

The Browns needed this win

This was one the Browns had to have. Burrow had no timing with his receivers and rarely had any time to throw. The Browns should have been up more than 10-0 at halftime, but their scoring drive late in the first half was an important one. Deshaun Watson scored on a designed quarterback run, and on a day when Watson was pretty bad as a passer, the Browns still were able to utilize Watson’s athletic ability. In the big picture, it’s a game the Browns absolutely needed to win, and they delivered accordingly.

The Browns are 3-21-1 in season openers since returning to the league in 1999, but they’ve now won two straight. — Jackson

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Browns will need Deshaun Watson's arm, but his legs and a great defense were key on Sunday

Highlight of the game

Myles Garrett gets home on 4th down!

📺: #CINvsCLE on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/G4uoYVOqQn pic.twitter.com/jnDkshzqfP

— NFL (@NFL) September 10, 2023

Key stat

This was the 100th meeting between these two AFC North rivals. The Browns have won nine of the last 11 meetings against the Bengals.

Required reading

(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)

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