CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Offensively, the season opener wasn’t pretty for the Cleveland Browns but defensively it was a work of art.
With rain falling all afternoon, the waterlogged Browns slogged their way to a 24-3 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the 100th Battle of Ohio to start 1-0 for the second consecutive season.
It was the ninth victory in the last 11 games in the series won by Cleveland, or as Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase calls them “the Elves” to drop the NFL’s new $275 million man Joe Burrow to 1-5 against them in his career.
Here’s our top Brownie Bites from a soggy 2023 opener.
Slippery rock – There might have been a half a billion on the field in Deshaun Watson and Joe Burrow but they will burn the film of the quarterback play after this one. “We wanted to test the weather out, see if we can really throw,” Watson said. “The ball was heavy, the ball was wet. So once the ball is in the air, regardless of how it comes off the hands or not, it’s going to slow up a little bit… But I think not just for us, for Cincinnati, too. They couldn’t throw it either.” The wet conditions made life miserable for Watson and Burrow, who didn’t even finish the game for Cincinnati. He was replaced by Bengals back up Jake Browning with 5:15 remaining as Burrow finished 14 of 31 for a career-worst 82 yards and a 52.2 rating. Watson struggled with down field passes for most of the afternoon. He overthrew Amari Cooper on the first series then underthrew Marquise Goodwin on the second after the speedster got himself wide open down field, but that throw was late. Watson looked for Goodwin deep early in the second quarter and couldn’t connect on another throw to Donovan Peoples-Jones. “There were opportunities there, but that was slick,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “I mean, it was slick for the center quarterback. It was slick. Obviously, we put a ball on the ground from Jerome [Ford]. Both sides were struggling with those conditions, but that’s part of it. And then so we had to adjust accordingly.” Watson finished 16 of 29 for 154 yards with a touchdown and an interception while registering a rating of 67.3.
1 by land, 1 by air – Watson got the Browns in the endzone with a 13-yard run with 17 seconds left in the half for a 10-0 Browns lead. Harrison Bryant hauled in a three-yard touchdown to blow it open from Watson, who ran in the two-point conversion for a 24-3 advantage with 9:21 remining in the game. “That was f*****g awesome. That was so awesome,” Watson said. “I actually made a bad read, so I know I’m probably going to get a minus on that play. I was supposed to go outside, but I saw a hole and I just put my foot in the ground and ran behind Joel [Bitonio] and Wyatt (Teller) and those guys and then reached the ball over.”
Knockout punch – Browns defensive end Myles Garrett slammed the door on the Bengals by sacking Burrow with just under 11 minutes to play for a loss of 13 on fourth down at the Cincinnati 18. “It seemed a little bit early in the game to go for it in that situation, but just got to make the most of the opportunity,” Garrett said. “When that big moment arrives, big stars have to show up.” The sack by Garrett made him the fifth player in NFL history – joining Reggie White [91.5], Bruce Smith [76.5], T.J. Watt [76] and J.J. Watt [76] – to tally 75 sacks in his first 85 games. It was Garrett’s 12th sack against the Bengals in his career and ninth of Burrow. “He plays at a high level from snap one to the final snap,” Stefanski said. “That was a huge play with where the game was, and obviously, we were playing well to that point, but that did seem like it was the final one that we needed. He’s a big part of our defense, of our team. We’re going to need him week in and week out.”
Big Z – Za’Darius Smith was a force to be reckoned with all afternoon from the opposite side of Garrett. Smith batted Burrow down on the first play of the game which seemed to set the tone for the miserable afternoon that was to follow for the Bengals quarterback. “Yes sir it did, most definitely,” Smith said. “Being able to be in this system gives us an opportunity to basically take the seat belts off. So I was able to get back there. It was a RPO, but I set the tone with that one.” Smith also registered four QB hits while visiting the Cincinnati backfield with regularity. “Being able to hit him feel like sometimes is more important than sacks because sometimes you can get one sack in the game but hit the quarterback five times,” Smith said. “It affected at different angles, but we got guys, got speed guys, we got big guys, we got all type of guys on our D line front. So we're able to do a great job. Great job up front.”
Churnin' 100 – Nick Chubb racked up his 30th career 100-yard rushing game with a 106-yard effort on 18 carries. “He’s the best in the world, best in the league,” Watson said. “And he’s going to continue to plug, he’s going to continue to run hard. First game for him, so I know he was a little bit winded but he kept doing what he needed to do and he ended up getting over 100 yards. I wish he could have gotten the end zone a couple of times but he’s going to have more opportunities for us.” Chubb also caught four passes for 21 yards. “Nick gives you his best at the office every single day,” Stefanski said. “What he did out there from beginning to end, we tried to hand it to him, throw it to him… [It was] fun to see Nick get going there for a little bit.”
Warm welcome – New kicker Dustin Hopkins received a warm welcome, and Bronx cheers, after making field goals of 43, 42 and 34 yards plus a PAT. “I got such great looks at the ball today.,” Hopkins said “Charlie [Hughlett] and Corey [Bojorquez] were awesome in operations and the line protected so well. It makes my job a lot easier when they did that on a day where, honestly, I think it’s harder for them on a wet day to snap a wet ball, catch a wet ball and put laces where they need to be on a wet ball. Today was more a testament to them and how good they’ve gotten in this kind of weather than me.”
Boomin' Bojorquez – Corey Bojorquez’s first punt of the season was a bomb – 66 yards. Mike Ford Jr. made a nice play to keep the Bengals inside the 15. Bojorquez hit a 56 yarder that combined with an unsportsmanlike penalty for running out of bounds pinned the Bengals at their own 5.
Big loss – Right tackle Jack Conklin was carted off after suffering what appeared to be a severe knee injury with 12:13 remaining in the first half. “You hope, but that doesn’t look good,” Stefanski said. “And I feel absolutely awful for Jack, the person he is, the player that he is, and what he means to this team. You absolutely hate to see those things on guys that are such a big part of what we are. So, he’s hurting, I’m hurting, his teammates are hurting for him. But we’ll hold out hope there on that one.” Rookie Dawand Jones replaced Conklin Sunday but will likely be called upon the rest of the way to fill a big pair of shoes up front. “Super tough. I mean, he worked so hard to get back healthy and feel like himself again, and I think he was coming in very positive, very confident,” Watson said. “We’re going to be right behind him, support him, sending our prayers and our love to him. We’re going to stick right there with him, and hopefully he can pull through and get better.”
Thornhill out – Safety Juan Thornhill was inactive and Rodney McLeod started in his place. Thornhill went through a workout 2.5 hours before kickoff where he did not appear to run fluidly while wearing a sleeve on his right calf.
Captains – Chubb was this week’s game captain on the day the team honored late Hall of Famer Jim Brwn at halftime. The Mizz served as the Dawg Pound captain/guitar smasher before kickoff.
