3 players to watch in Cleveland Browns Week 2 game against Bengals
By Clay Goodwin
Look for these three players to have a big game against the Bengals Thursday.
The Cleveland Browns season did not begin as planned as they traveled to Baltimore and fell to the rival Ravens by a lopsided score of 38-6. Cleveland just didn’t look prepared or ready at all to play a team of Baltimore’s caliber. Fortunately for the Browns, game day is already nearly here and they can hopefully get the bad tastes out of their mouths with a win against the Bengals.
Cleveland faces yet another divisional opponent in Week 2 as Cincinnati comes to town for the team’s home opener on Thursday Night Football. The Browns surely want to avoid falling to 0-2 overall and in the division, so this is almost a must win game.
There were very little positives from the Week 1 disappointment for the Browns to carry over to this week’s matchup, but they have to find a way to rally and correct some issues. The run game has to get going early and often. While the rest of the team struggled against the Ravens, the run game actually averaged over five yards a carry in the contest. The Bengals just gave up 155 yards rushing to a Chargers team with much less running weapons than the Browns. The Bengals are certainly vulnerable in the run game and Cleveland absolutely has to capitalize.
Baker Mayfield and the passing attack has to be better and more efficient. Mayfield needs to pass for more yards yet have a higher completion percentage than the 53.8 percent mark he posted last week. He also needs to avoid throwing an interception and be more careful with the football.
Defensively, the Browns need much more pass-rush production from the defensive line. Last week the game plan may have been to contain the mobile Lamar Jackson, and that may have limited some pressure. This week however, the Browns need to get to rookie QB Joe Burrow and make him feel the pressure.
The defensive backs also need to be much more productive tomorrow. Jackson threw the ball with ease Sunday and seemed to have open receivers all night. That has to change against the Bengals who boast a much better receiving corps than the Ravens have.
In this article, we will highlight which Browns players to watch in tomorrow’s battle against the Bengals.