CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Nick Chubb scored in his triumphant return, but the Browns lost starting quarterback Deshaun Watson, likely for the season.
Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow threw a pair of touchdown passes in the Bengals 21-14 win over the Browns, who had to play emergency quarterback Jameis Winston, Sunday afternoon at Huntington Bank Field.
Here’s a few Brownie Bites from a disastrous Week 7.
Streaks go on – The Browns dropped their fifth in a row to fall to a hopeless 1-6 on the season. Cleveland has yet to score 20 points in a game this season joining the 1975 and 1999 Browns teams to accomplish that dubious feat. “Yeah, not good enough,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “Very frustrating.”
Watson done – It is feared Watson ruptured his Achilles with less than two minutes to play in the first half. Watson, who was booed by fans during player introductions before the game, completed 15 of 17 passes for 128 yards and a rating of 98.0 prior to being carted off the field with the injury. More on Watson's injury and players being angered by fans reaction as he was taken off the field here.
QB Emergency – The Browns needed three quarterbacks to get out of Sunday’s game. Dorian Thompson-Robinson was elevated to the backup quarterback role Sunday and Winston was inactive as the emergency No. 3 quarterback. “Kind of went into the season thinking both those guys were the number two and felt like with some of the packages that we had up today, didn’t have really Jameis in the short yardage that we’ve had up before, so felt like it was the right thing for this game,” Stefanski said. Thompson-Robinson, who relieved Watson late in the first half, departed with a finger injury in the fourth quarter, “I mean I just fell on it wrong on the sack,” Thompson-Robinson said. “I was trying to hold it together, but I could not just ultimately hold on to the ball. I did get x-rays, but I am still waiting for results, so I have no clue if I will play or not next week.” Thompson-Robinson was intercepted in the third quarter after a pass to Cedric Tillman went off the receiver’s hands and fell into Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard’s. Safety Geno Stone intercepted Thompson-Robinson with just over 4 minutes remaining in the game and returned it 49 yards to the Cleveland 30. Thompson-Robinson finished 11 of 24 for 82 yards and two interceptions. Winston threw a late touchdown and two-point conversion and finished 5 of 11 for 67 yards.
Chubb on the board – Chubb scored from a yard out with less than a minute to play in the first half, his first touchdown since January 2023. The score should’ve tied the game at 7 but kicker Dustin Hopkins pushed the PAT wide left. Chubb carried 11 times for 22 yards and the score. “I was just happy to see him out there,” left guard Joel Bitonio said. “All the work he's put in. What everyone says about Nick Chubb is great, and he's a better person than he is a player. He's a heck of a player. So it was good to have him back out there. I wish we would've been a little more successful in the run for him and got a win. But I'm glad he got in the end zone, even though it took three touchdowns.” His longest run went for five yards. Chubb, who saw limited snaps in the second half, was also targeted three times out of the back field and he caught one of the passes for 10 yards. “Just always trying to be smart with him,” Stefanski said. “Want to make sure that we don’t put him in a bad spot. He was good. He came out of this thing good. So, he’ll be ready to roll.”
Late score – Tight end David Njoku made a nice touchdown catch in the back of the end zone on a throw from Winston with 1:27 remaining. Winston added a two-point conversion with a throw to Cedric Tillman.
Beat by Burrow – Cornerback Greg Newsome II got beat on an 18-yard touchdown throw from Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase on a back-shoulder throw inside the front left pylon for a 14-6 lead with just under 8 minutes remaining in the third quarter. “I think good throw, good catch. They threw a back shoulder to the front pylon,” Newsome said. “We've been seeing that all week on film. So on my part just got to try to be a little bit more physical at the top of the route. He was able to swap by and give a little quick little push. So just be a little bit more physical.” Burrow found Tee Higgins for a 25-yard touchdown with 90 seconds left in the third quarter for a 21-6 lead. Burrow completed 15 of 25 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
Dynamic return – Bengals returner Charlie Jones took the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown to give Cincinnati a 7-0 lead 12 seconds into the game. “I knew I probably wasn't going to chase him down like Houston and just put myself at risk,” Hopkins said. “So I just tried to honestly slow his angle down a little bit so hopefully one of my guys could catch up and then kind of make a go, and then if he got past me, I was just going to not chase.”
Rock on – Zak Wylde handled the anthem with his guitar, Flavor Flav was the Dawg Pound captain and guitar smasher, and 2024 Rock Hall inductees Foreigner performed at halftime in celebration of the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions that took place Saturday night in downtown Cleveland.
Injury report – QB Deshaun Watson (Achilles); QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson (finger); RT Jack Conklin (undisclosed)