Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict is often on the radar of officials and coach Marvin Lewis has told him he won’t get the benefit of the doubt on borderline calls, which appeared to hurt him early in Sunday’s game against the Browns.
Burfict was called for a personal foul for a hit on a defenseless receiver for hitting Browns wideout Corey Coleman while Coleman was running a route on a second down play. It was the type of hit that you’d usually expect to draw more than an illegal contact, which suggests that Lewis is right about Burfict’s limited margin for error.
DeShone Kizer scrambled for eight yards to midfield on the play, so the penalty put the Browns into Bengals territory.
They’d move inside the 10, but an offensive pass interference penalty on tight end David Njoku knocked them back and the team had to settle for a Zane Gonzalez field goal that put them up 3-0 with a little more than nine minutes to go in the quarter.
Isaiah Crowell ran five times for 30 yards and the team had 50 rushing yards overall, which matches their total for all of last week’s loss to the Jaguars.