Cleveland Browns 3 bold predictions vs. Bengals in Week 14

Riding a two-game winning streak, the Cleveland Browns travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals. While it’s true their in-state rivals went to the Super Bowl last season, Cleveland has had their number in recent years.

A win on Halloween night this season made it five wins in a row and eight of the last nine have gone in the Browns favor. Here we look ahead to their next meeting and make three bold predictions.

Cleveland Browns Bold Prediction No. 3: David Njoku makes another highlight-reel catch

In the Week 12 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, David Njoku stood out as the hero of the day. Cleveland was down by seven and facing a fourth-and-10 with only 32 seconds remaining.

That’s when Jacoby Brissett decided to throw it up for Njoku in the end zone and despite tight coverage and a high throw, No. 85 reached up with one hand and pulled down the tying touchdown.

That play sent it to overtime and the Browns wound up securing the win on a Nick Chubb touchdown.

Njoku, unfortunately, missed the following game as a knee injury sidelined him against the Texans. He will be back in Week 14, however, and is excited to start working with Deshaun Watson. In this first prediction, the two get off to a hot start as Njoku makes another highlight-reel catch for a touchdown that will get everyone excited.

This offseason, Cleveland was criticized for the four-year $56.75 million extension they agreed to with Njoku. Those critics pointed to his limited production over the past couple of seasons but general manager Andrew Berry understood he could excel once Austin Hooper was released.

Now back in the No. 1 tight end role, Njoku has 41 receptions for 464 yards and two touchdowns. He’s expected to grow even more as a player with Watson taking over, and that should start this weekend.

Cleveland Browns Bold Prediction No. 2: Myles Garrett records two strip-sacks

As much as Cleveland Browns fans love Myles Garrett, the Cincinnati Bengals faithful surely despise him more. Garrett has been nothing short of dominant against their divisional rivals in his eight career games against them.

Entering Week 14, he has 19 tackles, nine sacks, and two forced fumbles against Cincy. He’s had three games with at least 1.5 sacks on them while being shut out in this category just once — which came back in November of 2018.

In their last meeting, which was on Halloween, Garrett showed up dressed as Vecna from Stranger Things and proved to be a nightmare for Joe Burrow as he recorded 1.5 sacks, helping Cleveland win 32-13.

Don’t expect things to be much different this weekend. Even though it might be foolish to expect the Bengals to score just 13 points again, their offensive line hasn’t exactly improved since the last meeting.

On the season, Burrow has been sacked 34 times. That has him on pace to be sacked 48 times, which is fewer than the 51 he suffered last year — but not a huge improvement.

That means Garrett should still be able to feast and this prediction is that he not only takes Burrow down twice but also records a fumble on each.

Cleveland Browns Bold Prediction No. 1: Deshaun Watson throws two touchdown passes

Anyone who expected Deshaun Watson to show up in Week 13 and look like the player we saw in 2020 was kidding themselves. Watson hadn’t played in a regular season game in 700 days after sitting out the entire 2021 campaign and then missing 11 games this year due to a suspension.

His debut with the Browns was exactly what we should have expected — a chance to get his feet wet and begin to work off the rust. He’s not starting from scratch the way a rookie does, but Watson has to figure out how to make the game slow down once again.

That will happen and the good news for Cleveland is that they did get the win despite a very un-Watson-like stat line — 12-of-22 for 131 yards with no touchdowns and an interception.

With that being said, he should start to look better this weekend, but he won’t be all the way back. Watson should show some improvement and this prediction is that he’s going to throw not just his first touchdown pass for the brown and orange, but his second as well.

Having David Njoku back in the lineup will be a huge boost for Watson. One thing that stood out in Week 13 was how much pressure was affecting his game. When he was forced to scramble, the passes were typically off the mark. With Njoku as a safety valve, Watson will be able to get a few more completions on broken plays that will help his confidence as well as the rhythm of the offense.

Again, he’s not likely to be back to 100 percent by Week 14 but he’s going to show progress, which is a positive.

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