Game One Open Thread: Browns vs. Bengals
September 11, 2011Browns Weren’t Ready – Lose to Bengals 27-17
September 11, 2011The new version of the Cleveland Browns was off to a very scary start. A first quarter with seven penalties for 48 yards will do that. The Bengals took an early lead and built it to 13-0 before the Browns finally started to play. It probably isn’t coincidence that the Browns’ offense finally started to click after Josh Cribbs returned a ball about 51 yards (nine yards deep) to the Browns’ 42 yard line.
The Browns got the running game going a bit with Montario Hardesty before Colt McCoy found Ben Watson leaking up the middle past the linebackers and into the end zone. What started with Josh Cribbs seemed to finally catch the rest of the team on fire. The Browns would force the Bengals to punt and the Browns would score again from McCoy to tight end Evan Moore for two yards. That touchdown was set up by a 56-yard bomb from Colt McCoy to Mohamed Massaquoi.
It was a pretty incredible play by McCoy. He rolled right out of the pocket with defenders closing from the back side. As he was nearly about to be sacked, Massaquoi completed a brilliant double-move that saw him easily beat the corner and just sneak past the safety. He had to wait for McCoy’s bomb to come to him, but it was a pretty amazing throw considering McCoy was drifting and on his back foot unleashing it as defenders had him wrapped up.
Joe Haden had a very good first half for the Browns. He broke up two consecutive Andy Dalton passes in the red zone to force the Bengals’ first field goal. He also seemingly was beaten by A.J. Green until the refs threw the flag on what turned out to be a pretty blatant push-off much to the chagrin of the jawing receiver.
The Bengals had a two minute drill that stalled around mid-field and punted to the Browns’ one yard line with 0:42 remaining on the clock. The Browns ran once and knelt out the clock taking a 14-13 lead into halftime. The Bengals started the game deferring, so the Browns will kick off to start the second half. They did well to overcome the slow start, but we’ll have to see if the 14 unanswered points were enough to save them a tongue lashing by Pat Shurmur at halftime.
Also of note, the Cleveland media, specifically Tom Withers was reporting on Twitter that trainers were attending to Andy Dalton’s wrist after taking a pretty big hit from Browns’ rookie lineman Phil Taylor. Certainly that could be big in the second half.