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Week 2 Game Recap: Cincinnati Bengals 45, Cleveland Browns 51
What you need to know
| Cincinnati Bengals |
The Cincinnati Bengals found themselves in a shootout with the Cleveland Browns, in a game that harkened back to the Bengals 58 to 48 win over the Browns in 2004. This time, however, the Bengals were the ones to come up short. Overall, Carson Palmer and the Cincinnati passing attack were very effective against the Browns, totaling 401 passing yards. Palmer completed passes to nine different receivers, racked up six passing touchdowns and only two interceptions. Leading the way for the Bengals receivers were Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh who had 209 and 69 yards respectively and both men caught two touchdowns apiece.
When the Bengals chose to run, Rudi Johnson lead the way with 118 yards on 23 carries but failed to score any rushing touchdowns and had a key fumble on a 20 yard run in the first half. Johnson saw four targets in the passing game, catching all four balls for 33 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively, the Bengals turned in a dreadful performance, surrendering 328 passing yards and 226 rushing yards to a Browns team that only managed 221 total yards in a week one loss to Pittsburgh. The Bengals surrendered 215 rushing yards to Jamal Lewis and gave up two 100 yard receiving performances to Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards.
| Cleveland Browns |
The Browns rebounded from an awful performance against the Steelers with one of their best offensive showings in years, totaling 554 yards of offense. Following the trade of Charlie Frye to Seattle and the uncertainty around the quarterback position, Derek Anderson stepped in and had a huge statistical game accounting for 328 passing yards, five touchdowns and only one interception. Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow anchored the Browns' receiving corps with 146 yards and 100 yards respectively. Edwards and fellow receiver Joe Jurevicius each had two receiving touchdowns while Winslow caught one touchdown. Anderson made plenty of mistakes and looked bad at times, but he delivered when it counted.
Jamal Lewis had a big day on the ground, running for 215 yards and one touchdown. He had two big runs in the game, one a 66 yard touchdown run and a 31 yard carry in the third quarter. Lewis did not have any catches in the game but fullback Lawrence Vickers did chip in with one catch for 11 yards.
Similar to the Bengals, the Browns did not have much of a defensive showing in the game, allowing 401 passing yards and 137 rushing yards. Bengals receivers Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh each caught two touchdown passes and Johnson gave the Browns problems all day catching 11 passes for 209 yards.
What you ought to know
| QB Carson Palmer, Pass: 33 - 50 - 401 - 6 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 2 - 10 - 0 |
Palmer displayed his usual efficiency completing 66% of his passes and throwing for 401 yards. He was able to mix his passes among nine different receivers but his first look was to either Houshmandzadeh or Johnson. Palmer was given plenty of time to throw by his offensive line and was only sacked one time in the game. While he did throw two interceptions, the second interception was an amazing catch by Browns cornerback Leigh Bodden during the last minute of the game.
| RB Rudi Johnson, Rush: 23 - 118 - 0, Rec: 4 - 33 - 1 (4 targets) |
Johnson managed to wrack up 118 yards rushing but a large 20 yard run was effectively negated when he lost a fumble. He did manage to score one touchdown on a 13 yard swing pass from Carson Palmer early in the game. Despite this receiving touchdown, Johnson was largely a safety outlet in the passing game, catching his three other passes, late in the game when Palmer had nowhere else to go with the ball.
| WR Chad Johnson, Rec: 11 - 209 - 2 (16 targets) |
Johnson had his run of the field all day long, catching 11 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns. The Browns matched up their number one cornerback, Leigh Bodden, on Johnson to no avail. Johnson beat Bodden one on one on both touchdown catches and proved to be the first guy Carson Palmer would look to on almost every pass play.
| WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Rec: 8 - 69 - 2 (17 targets) |
Houshmandzadeh was a favorite target of Carson Palmer all afternoon, catching eight passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns. His first touchdown catch, a 23 yard pass, was very questionable, as it appeared he only had one foot in bounds but following official review the catch was ruled a touchdown. Outside of this catch and another five yard touchdown reception in the third quarter, Houshmandzadeh was largely a possession type receiver going over the middle for smaller portions of yards.
| WR Glenn Holt, Rec: 5 - 52 - 1 (5 targets) |
Holt, a second year player out of Kentucky, was a surprise in the game, catching five passes for 52 yards and one touchdown. He was largely a third option in the passing game, but did catch every pass thrown his way and managed to be a real nuisance to the Browns pass defense. He was injured, late in the fourth quarter and did not return to the game
| TE Reggie Kelly, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (3 targets) |
Kelly was largely a non-factor in the game catching only one pass for eight yards. He was largely a safety outlet, one that Palmer would only look to if all his receivers and Rudi Johnson was covered.
| PK Shayne Graham 1 - 1 FG, 6 - 6 XP, 9 points |
Graham got his work in today, kicking only one field goal from 20 yards, but adding six extra points on six tries.
| CIN Rush Defense |
The Bengals rush defense struggled to contain the power running game of Jamal Lewis. The defense allowed runs of 66 and 31 yards to Lewis and, overall, gave up 226 total rushing yards. The Browns were able to run off tackle and between tackle for good sized gains all afternoon.
| CIN Pass Defense |
The Bengals pass defense let a highly questionable Browns passing game throw all over them during the game. The Browns concentrated all of their passing attempts around three primary receivers and despite this, and the inexperience of Browns quarterback Derek Anderson, the Bengals were unable to prevent the Browns from scoring five touchdowns through the air.
| QB Derek Anderson, Pass: 20 - 33 - 328 - 5 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 1 - -1 - 0 |
Anderson came into this game amidst the controversy of the Browns' quarterback situation. Despite the trade of Charlie Frye and fans cries for Brady Quinn to start, Anderson turned in an excellent statistical performance against the Bengals. While Anderson did throw for 328 yards, five touchdowns and only one interception, a number of his passes were off target. For example, Anderson connected on a 37 yard touchdown pass with Braylon Edwards in the fourth quarter. While Edwards was uncovered and Anderson under no pressure, the pass was nearly over Edwards head and only a fantastic diving catch saved the touchdown. Anderson concentrated his throws between Edwards and Kellen Winslow, as the two accounted for 21 of Anderson's 33 pass attempts. Perhaps the best statistic of the day was the fact the Browns did not allow a sack and gave the Anderson the time he needed to set up for his throws.
| RB Jamal Lewis, Rush: 27 - 216 - 1 (1 targets) |
Lewis had a huge day running the ball for 215 yards on 28 carries. While Lewis did have big runs of 66 and 31 yards, he was effective pounding the ball between the tackles and running off tackle to use up the game clock while the Browns had the lead. Lewis proved difficult for the Bengals defense to tackle as he often shed the first person to hit him and worked his way into second level of defenders. He may have lost a step or two over the last few seasons, and he was not a threat in the pass game, but during this game Lewis was certainly every bit of the power back the Browns were expecting.
| WR Braylon Edwards, Rec: 8 - 146 - 2 (14 targets) |
Edwards was the go-to target of Derek Anderson all day. He proved his toughness early in the first quarter going over the middle for an overthrown Derek Anderson pass that ended with Edwards being sandwiched in mid-air between two Bengal defenders. The pass may have been incomplete, but after shaking off the hit Edwards was back in the game on the next series. Edwards made a great diving catch on a 37 yard touchdown pass in the second half and proved very difficult to cover, no matter how the Bengals changed their coverage schemes.
| WR Joe Jurevicius, Rec: 4 - 44 - 2 (5 targets) |
Jurevicius was only targeted five times during the game, but made the most of chances catching two touchdown passes. He functioned largely as the possession receiver, making shorter yardage catches and blocking downfield on running plays.
| TE Kellen Winslow Jr, Rec: 6 - 100 - 1 (7 targets) |
Winslow was the second place Derek Anderson would look if Braylon Edwards was covered. He was quite effective running up the middle seams of the Bengals defense and making tough catches in the middle of the field.
| PK Phil Dawson 3 - 3 FG, 6 - 6 XP, 15 points |
Dawson was highly effective going three for three on field goals with a long of 39 yards. He also benefited from the shootout going six for six on extra points.
| CLE Rush Defense |
The Browns rush defense proved effective limiting Rudi Johnson to only 118 rushing yards and recovering a fumble on a big 20 yard carry. The Bengals largely abandoned the rushing game in the second half, but the Browns did come up with three big rushing stops following a Derek Anderson interception in the third quarter. The interception turned the ball over on the Cleveland 25 yard line, but the Browns rush defense stuffed two Rudi Johnson runs and forced Cincinnati to kick a field goal.
| CLE Pass Defense |
The Browns had no answer for Chad Johnson as the receiver was wide open on most of his catches. The Bengals were in the game right until the very last drive of the game, when, after a 30 yard completion from Palmer to Johnson, the Browns intercepted a pass to end the game. The interception, by Leigh Bodden, was nothing short of a fantastic catch. The Browns pass defense was unable to generate much of a pass rush as Palmer was only sacked once in the game.
