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Scouting Ahead: Cleveland Browns’ Week 9 opponent, Cincinnati Bengals

By Colin Damms

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones (11), left, celebrates a go-ahead touchdown catch with Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry (80) during the fourth quarter of a Week 7 NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020, at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. The Cleveland Browns won 37-34.Cincinnati Bengals At Cleveland Browns Oct 25
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones (11), left, celebrates a go-ahead touchdown catch with Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry (80) during the fourth quarter of a Week 7 NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020, at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. The Cleveland Browns won 37-34.Cincinnati Bengals At Cleveland Browns Oct 25 /
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Cleveland Browns
CINCINNATI, OHIO – OCTOBER 25: Baker Mayfield #6 of the Cleveland Browns gives instructions to his team against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium on October 25, 2020 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

Let Baker Bake

Sometimes to get to where you need to be you need a reminder of why you’re still going in the first place. Baker Mayfield’s five-touchdown performance against the Bengals last season was the start of something great.

The Week 7 shootout restored the confidence of the quarterback and offense after a humiliating blowout against the Steelers in Pittsburgh the previous week, and gave them a crucial 2-2 division record going into the bye week. The rest of the way the offense hardly looked back (apart from the monsoon games and Covid-hit Jets loss), and Baker’s confidence and accuracy was a big reason why.

Cleveland is now in need of a similar lift, against the same opponent, recovering from the same painful loss.

There isn’t a single word that could accurately describe Mayfield this season, which leads to the word “inconsistent” more than anything. He’s been everything from limited to the focal point, accurate to inaccurate, and all on top of having a torn labrum injury.

He’s been called out by many for his inconsistency, and in a week where the OBJ news has hit he’s also gone and drawn more attention by posting more misleading political misinformation on his Instagram. He really hasn’t made a huge impact yet, and could certainly use a game like last year’s to shake the doubts and get his season truly going.

We know he can still sling it through the pain, so who better to unleash that against than a team that just got torched by the New York freakin Jets? Yes, OBJ is gone, but Landry is back, Donovan Peoples-Jones will make his return, and Higgins has been used too sparingly this season.

This isn’t even to mention the perhaps underutilized receiving skills of all three tight ends. Let Baker cook (bake?) and see what happens. He almost always plays well against the Bengals, and Stefanski needs to get him going. There’s not much left to lose and everything to gain in the Browns’ uphill battle to make the playoffs.

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