Odell who?
The Browns elected to let go of receiver Odell Beckham Jr. this week and the team was no worse for the wear, defeating the Bengals in Cincinnati 41-16.
Cleveland hit several explosive plays on offense and got opportunistic turnovers on defense to blow out a division rival on the road.
It started on the opening drive, when Cleveland cornerback Denzel Ward took an interception 99 yards for a pick six, giving Cleveland a 7-0 lead. Though the Bengals answered with a touchdown, running back Nick Chubb scored his first of two touchdowns, pounding the ball in from 1-yard out to go up 14-7.
After the Bengals failed on a fourth-down conversion, the Browns started rolling. Quarterback Baker Mayfield apparently saw an open receiver down the field and hit Donovan Peoples-Jones for a 60-yard touchdown pass. That was a one-play scoring drive. The Browns then forced receiver Ja’Marr Chase to fumble and turned that into a 28-yard field goal.
Though Evan McPherson hit a 27-yarder to cut Cleveland’s lead to 24-10 at the end of the first half, Chubb then got in on the explosive plays. He took a handoff 70 yards for a touchdown midway through the third quarter for a 31-10 lead. Then safety John Johnson picked off Joe Burrow and Cleveland turned that into a 24-yard field goal.
With the game just about decided, running back Joe Mixon took in a 2-yard touchdown run to make the score 34-16. And the Browns put the exclamation point on the win with tight end David Njoku’s 18-yard touchdown with just 4:27 left in the fourth quarter.
At that point, the Bengals took Burrow out of the game. He’d been sacked five times as the Browns racked up 12 QB hits.
Defensive end Myles Garrett had 1.5 of those sacks, totaling three QB hits and adding a tackle for loss. But one-time Cincinnati defensive back Troy Hill had the stat line of the game, recording 2.0 sacks, a pair of tackles for loss, and three QB hits. The Browns sent him on several blitzes throughout the game.
Mayfield finished 14-of-21 passing for 218 yards with a pair of touchdowns. Chubb racked up 137 yards on 14 carries with his two touchdowns. He also had a pair of catches for 26 yards.
Burrow was 28-of-40 passing for 282 yards with a pair of picks. It was the first time this season he didn’t throw for multiple touchdowns in a game.
Chase also had a tough day, catching just six of his 13 targets for 49 yards. He had a few drops in the contest, too, in addition to his fumble.
Now at 5-4, the Browns will face the Patriots on the road next weekend.
Also at 5-4 following two straight losses, the Bengals will have a little more time to think about this loss with a Week 10 bye.