No Chubb, no win

The Cincinnati Bengals' main goal against the Browns Sunday in front of the home folks, besides scoring more points than them of course, was making certain Nick Chubb was reduced from superhuman status against them to just plain human when carrying a football. 

Chubb, who breaks more tackles and piles up more yards after contact in the National Football League than anyone and delivers more bruises than he receives, was rendered silent in the 23-10 loss that eliminated Cleveland from any playoff possibilities.

He normally feasts on the Bengals and is one of the main reasons the Browns brought a five-game winning streak against them into this one, But he produced just 34 yards -- his longest run was 13 yards on his second carry -- in 14 attempts as the Cincy defensive line blew up just about everything run-related.

It forced head coach/playcaller Kevin Stefanski to alter his game plan for the offense in the second half after the Bengals built a 13-3 halftime lead on their only two second-quarter possessions, and it became quite clear the Bengals' defensive line was overwhelmingly winning the war in the trenches.

Stefanski was probably tired of watching his bellwether back get nowhere and moved Deshaun Watson into the picture perhaps earlier than he had planned, giving him a chance to see what his new quarterback could do under conditions that relied more heavily on him than the ground game.

But it was a penalty-laden collapse by the Browns' defense and special teams on the first of those second-quarter possessions that helped gift-wrap the first score, a 15-yard connection from Joe Burrow to Ja'Marr Chase. 

With the game scoreless and the Cincinnati offense floundering early in the quarter -- three punts and 38 yards in 15 plays on the first three possessions -- and facing another punt, it became flag day and the game turned.

Fourth and 15 at the Cincinnati 17 and with the Cleveland defense in charge, linebacker Tony Fields II ran roughshod right into Bengals punter Drue Chrisman and drew a roughing penalty to breathe new life into the possession. Then it got worse. Way worse.

Two plays later, rookie defensive end Isaiah Thomas drew a hands-to-the-face penalty after a Jadeveon Clowney sack of Burrow. On the very next play, Denzel Ward was flagged for an extremely iffy pass interference on Chase (a 33-yarder), Four plays later, Chase split Ward and free safety John Johnson III for the score. Nine plays, 85 yards in five minutes with yellow laundry accounting for 63 of hem.

The Cleveland offense, which snoozed for a couple of series after turning over the ball on downs on their initial possession of the game, awoke and drove 63 yards before stalling in the red zone, Cade York putting the first points on the board from 26 yards.

The Bengals retaliated immediately with Burrow, enjoying his first-ever victory over the Browns, put together a nine-play, 75-yard drive capped by a six-yard scoring run by Samaje Perine with connections of 16 yards to Chase, 35 to Trent Taylor and 14 to Trenton Irwin along the way.

Burrow was operating with Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins, two of his most reliable receivers, unavailable. Boyd sustained a finger injury on the second play of the game when jolted heavily by Cleveland linebacker Deion Jones while breaking up a pass and did not return. Higgins never played. He targeted Chase, his favorite receiver, on nearly half (15) of his 33 pass attempts 

Burrow resorted to a gadget play to stretch the lead on the Bengals' second series of the second half. On the second play, he handed off to Joe Mixon for a simple dive play, but Mixon immediately spun and flipped the ball back to Burrow, who hit a wide-open Irwin from 45 yards. The play worked perfectly because Browns safety Grant Delpit bit on the fake and let Irwin romp free.

Watson, meanwhile, looked early on a lot like the quarterback who flatlined last week against Houston playing in his first game in 700 days, But the more Stefanski called his number, the better he began to look, especially in the second half.

He had problems in the first 30 minutes finding open receivers and was forced to scramble. Adjustments apparently were made at halftime with tight end David Njoku and wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones the main beneficiaries. 

Looking more confident, more comfortable and in much better rhythm with his passes in the second half, Watson targeted Njoku and P-J 16 times, hitting on 11 for 130 of his 166 second-half yards. He completed four straight passes, the last three to Njoku, who he bullied his way into the end zone from 13 yards out to cut the score to 20-10 at the tailend of the third quarter.

After throwing a pick when free safety Jessie Bates III cut in front of P-J early in the fourth quarter, he put a scare into the Bengals after Jones picked off Burrow following a deflection by Clowney five plays later with nearly 11 minutes remaining in regulation.

He converted a couple of clutch fourth downs on scrambles en route to a first and goal at the Cincinnati 10 with 5:25 let, but  misfired on three straight passes, just missing Amari Cooper on third  down and P-J with a poorly thrown fade from the six. He had one more chance to narrow the score about a minute later, but missed on his last three passes from the Bengals' 42. 

It's situations like that where the quarterback Watson used to be most likely would have been successful. Overall, though, he was a much better quarterback in this one. He knocked off much more rust. Wondering here just how much more remains.