Welcome to week 7 Browns fans. Sunday the 1-5 Browns return home to Huntington Bank Stadium to take on the 2-4 Cincinnati Bengals. Game time is 12:00 noon CST and the ChicagoLand Browns Backers/Northside Dawg Pound will be meeting at Burke’s Public House 5401 N. Broadway to cheer the Browns on to victory in this current edition of the Battle of Ohio. The Browns come into the game with 2 huge changes on offense, WR Amari Cooper and a 2025 sixth round pick were traded to the Buffalo Bills for a 2025 third round draft pick and a 2026 seventh round pick and All Pro RB Nick Chubb was activated from the injured list in time to play on Sunday. Starting RB Jerome Ford has been ruled out for the game leaving only back-up RB’s D’onta Foreman and Pierre Strong available for the game so it’s anybody’s guess how much playing time Chubb will get. If Chubb gets extended playing time he will have the opportunity to run against a Bengal defense that ranked 27th against the rush giving up 146 yards per game on the ground. With Amari Cooper now in Buffalo WR Jerry Jeudy will have to take on a bigger role as Deshaun Watson’s primary wide receiver. So far this season Jeudy has caught 20 of 35 passes thrown to him (57%) while averaging 12.4 yards per catch with 1 TD and 1 dropped pass. For the Browns to win on Sunday they’ll need to correct several recurring problems on both offense and defense. After 6 games the Browns offense has been flagged for 36 penalties, third most in the league and their 14 dropped passes are also the third most in the NFL although Amari Cooper was responsible for 6 of those drops. On defense, according to Pro Football Focus the Browns have the second worse tackling grade in the league having missed 58 tackles with Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah leading the team with 10 missed tackles. Embattled starting QB Deshaun Watson will also need to speed up his processing of defensive schemes and his reaction to blitzes so he can get the ball out quicker and on target. He’ll also need to adjust to his not being as elusive as he used to be in the pocket and learn to throw the ball away instead of taking sacks in an attempt to extend plays. When blitzed his completion percentage drops from 64.4% to 55.2% and his yards per pass drops from 5.7 yards to 3.9 yards.
Cincinnati enters Sunday’s game having won 2 of their last 3 games after starting the season 0-3. Their offense is led by QB Joe Burrows who is the best QB the Browns have faced so far this season. His 71.6% completion rate is second in the NFL and he’s thrown for 12 TD’s against only 2 interceptions for a league leading QB rating of 110.3. Despite his success Burrow is 1-6 in his 7 career games against the Browns. To beat him the Browns defense will need to pressure him without blitzing as his QB rating increases to 139.4 and his time to throw is only 2.7 seconds when blitzed. He’s been sacked on almost 7% of his pass attempts and has 3 fumbles in addition to his 2 interceptions. His primary passing targets are WR JaMarr Chase who’s caught 34 of 41 (83%) passes thrown to him, averaging 16.6 yards per catch with 5 TD’s and only 2 drops. Burrows’ other main target is WR Tee Higgins who’s caught 25 of 35 passes for a 71.4% completion rate while averaging 10.4 yards per reception. TE Mike Gesicki is averaging 10.5 yards per reception while catching 17 of 21 passes thrown to him and slot receiver Andrei Iosivas has 3 TD catches. The Bengals throw the ball on 62% of their offensive snaps, 7th most in the league, while running the ball only 22 times per game averaging 4.6 yards per rush. RB’s Chase Brown 5.5 yards per rush and Zack Moss 3.6 yards per rush have combined for 5 rushing TD’s and 2 receiving TD’s. Overall, the Bengals average 26.2 points per game and 350 yards per game in total offense. They are 4th in third down efficiency, converting 45.8% of their third downs and they are 10th in red zone scoring. The Bengals are 25th in scoring defense giving up 25.3 points per game and 356 yards per game. If the Browns can mange to play clean offensive football with minimal drive killing penalties and turnovers they have a decent chance of mounting consistent drives against a defense that gives up an average of 146 yards on the ground and sacks opposing QB’s on only 3.9% of passing attempts. Edge rusher Trey Hendrickson has 5 of their 9 sacks so the Browns offensive line will need to pay close attention to him. Cincinnati’s defense has had similar problems with tackling as the Browns having 57 missed tackles, one fewer than the Browns.
GO BROWNS