Zombo said:

You nailed that one.

Not the performance I was expecting last night

@thenew23 said:

If you want to believe the crawl line on NFLN- Hawkins is inactive- not good.

@thenew23 said:

Isn't that what it's all about?

8th with a bullet ... and totally top notch in the second halves of games.

This could be the game that this Pettine defense really comes together and we ride the wave ...

Zombo

@the-gipper said:

Last year though it was the Browns that were the turnover machine down in Cincy. Of course we want no repeat of that.

So far, our offense is about as good as it gets at protecting the ball. (Knock on wood)

@gumby73 said:

Last year though it was the Browns that were the turnover machine down in Cincy. Of course we want no repeat of that.

If the front 7 can get pressure, expect Whitner and Gipson to be in position to make plays

Haden will be busy with Green all day... taking him out of the game

Key matchup: Sanu vs. Skrine/Gilbert ... Hopefully we can prevent the big play from killing us...

We NEED Hawkins!!!! Without him we're in trouble...

I'm expecting West to do most the damage on the ground, while Hawkins/Austin/Gabriel handle the catches, but also utilizing Dray in the redzone...

Hoyer just needs to keep playing smart with the ball...

Key Matchups: Schwartz vs Carlos Dunlap & Greco/McDonald/Bitonio vs Peko/Atkins ... Hopefully we can open up some running lanes, and protect Hoyer enough to at least be efficient on offense...

If we play smart, on both sides of the ball, and convert a few 3rd downs while getting a few stops on D... it'll be a close ugly game, just the way we like it...

Browns 20 - Bengals 17

@tour2ma said:

And Cincy is 1st place in our division... For about 24 more hours...

Prior to the start of the season I would never have dreamt our mid point stats would be this close.

@thenew23 said:

Comparing Offenses:

Cincy ranks 9th in rushing yards at 121.4 yards/game

Browns rank 15th at 111.2 yards/game

Browns rank 14th in passing yards at 241.0 yards/game

Cincy ranks 15th with 240.2 yards/game

Cincy ranks 12th in total yards, Browns rank 14th; with a difference of 9.4 yards per game

Cincy ranks 13th in scoring offense, with 24.2 points/game

Browns rank 16th with 23.1 points/game

Cincy is 19th in touchdowns, Browns are 21st;

Cincy is 1st in rushing TDs, Browns are 5th

Browns are 29th in passing TDs, Cincy is 30th

Browns rank 7th in Turnover differential at +6

Cincy ranks 12th at +3

These teams rank very similarly, but give the slight advantage to Cincinnati on offense (1.1 more points per game, and 9.4 yards per game... again very slight advantage). The two largest ranking differences are 1) Cincy's advantage in rushing yards, and 2) the Browns advantage in the Turnover differential.

Should make for a great matchup...

Very similar teams IMO talent wise. Maybe not necessarily in the same areas, but overall.

I was surprised to see my Bengals favored by 6. I would have thought more like 3. Guess we will see. I don't expect this to be an easy game to win for either team.

Cincy ranks 9th in rushing yards at 121.4 yards/game

Browns rank 15th at 111.2 yards/game

Browns rank 14th in passing yards at 241.0 yards/game

Cincy ranks 15th with 240.2 yards/game

Cincy ranks 12th in total yards, Browns rank 14th; with a difference of 9.4 yards per game

Cincy ranks 13th in scoring offense, with 24.2 points/game

Browns rank 16th with 23.1 points/game

Cincy is 19th in touchdowns, Browns are 21st;

Cincy is 1st in rushing TDs, Browns are 5th

Browns are 29th in passing TDs, Cincy is 30th

Browns rank 7th in Turnover differential at +6

Cincy ranks 12th at +3

These teams rank very similarly, but give the slight advantage to Cincinnati on offense (1.1 more points per game, and 9.4 yards per game... again very slight advantage). The two largest ranking differences are 1) Cincy's advantage in rushing yards, and 2) the Browns advantage in the Turnover differential.

Should make for a great matchup...

We're both tied for 30th in rush defense at 139.6 yards/game; and 29th in rush avg at 4.8 YPC.

Browns rank 18th in pass defense at 252.1 yards/game

Cincy ranks 21st at 255.2 yards/game

Browns rank 19h in sacks with 17

Cincy ranks 25th with 13

Browns rank 28th in total defense yards at 391.8 yards/game on

Cincy ranks 30th at 394.9 yards/game

Browns rank 8th in scoring defense at 21.1 points/game

Cincy ranks 17th at 23.4 points/game

So, actually our defenses aren't very far apart. We rank better in almost every category, really, except run D where we are exactly tied in two categories.

We seem to be doing a better job of keeping opponents out of the endzone, so the slight advantage on D goes to Cleveland...

@bbedward said:

Bernard won't make much difference, that Hill boi looked pretty good.

Yeah I believe he was a higher pick for Cincy, 3rd round? and I guess big things are expected of him. He did alright last week so I agree...losing Bernard is a wash.

@tour2ma said:

I wouldn't be surprised.

Here is part of an interesting article FROM APRIL(before the draft), where Pettine 'basically' says rookie QB's are better off sitting and learning. He also mentions Kaepernick as a "package player" his first year. This should help to show that things are as he wanted them from the very start. Even BEFORE JFF was drafted, he said he would prefer the rookie to sit if at all possible. And he might work him into special situations, if at all possible. Here are the highlights:

Bucking the NFL's trend of the past half-decade, Pettine emphasized that it's "extremely difficult" for a quarterback to succeed as a rookie starter.

"When you look at the history of the league whether it was (Tom) Brady or whether it was Aaron Rodgers, or Carson Palmer (they waited)," Pettine explained Tuesday, via The Plain Dealer. "Even Russell Wilson sat for a little bit and (Colin) Kaepernick was a package player his first year."

If the weather is really lousy, then do we trot out our "Special Package" that features the read-option?

2014 average margin of victory for ALL games on Sunday = 12.5 pts

2014 average margin of victory for THURDAY games = 29 pts

HOLY CRAP!!!!

It's gonna be a blow out. And I think it will be the Bungles who crash and burn. No stats to back it. Just a hunch.

http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2014/10/does_thursday_night_football_i.html

GO BROWNS !

@tour2ma said:

I hope the threat of rain 40% and temps in the 40s- makes a lot of the wusses stay home and watch it on TV. Then again- it's exactly what I'm going to do, instead of making the 50 mile run down to PBS. Though it doesn't affect me- if you have a normal day job- a Thursday night game makes for a rather rough Friday morning- unless you've already planned to make a long weekend out of it.

@opal312 said:

The Browns are going to have to learn how to stop the run in a hurry. The Bungles have Bernard and Hill just scored 28.00 points for my fantasy teams. Also they're going to have to figure out how to get Tate, West and Crowell more involved. They definitely do not look good now that Alex Mack is out and Hoyer is no Tom Brady no matter what the rose colored glasses think.

Bernard is probably out, as was posted, so is Hall. No Burfict,probably no Malaluga. They are more even beat up than us.

@the-cysko-kid said:

Where's all the bungle trolls?

I do miss Umadogg- make that Umatroll. one of the few smart and loyal Bungle fans on the planet.

@typicalbrowns said:

just read Leon Hall, Burfict, and Maulaga and Bernard are out.

we may be luckier than we think. who knows tho

Beat me to it. Browns must stop Hall from running for 200 yards, establish their own running game (Bengals almost as bad as us in run D), and force Dalton into a couple of turnovers.

BTW, AG Green is far from 100%.

The bad? Bungles are 12-0-1 of late at home.

@typicalbrowns said:

that's the thing mark o, last year browns 0 gave up 4 turnovers in a half to cincy.

the o is a little different now, rarely turning the ball over. And just imagine if Dalton has one of his "dear lord how is he a QB in the NFL" days

That's kinda what I was getting at while being too lazy to go back and look up the actual stats. If Dalton gift wraps points for us like he did in Cincy last year, this game is a blowout win for the Browns because this offense doesn't turn the ball over.

Actually, I'll be starting him in my league with Gio out.

@typicalbrowns said:

Bernard won't make much difference, that Hill boi looked pretty good.

Without two starting LBs (their best LB included) and without their best CB I like our chances on O a bit more though.Their defense has been shaky as of late when healthy too.