Dorian Thompson-Robinson's first start of the season was marred by sacks and turnovers. (Cincinnati Bengals)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is an analyst of the Cleveland Browns for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
CINCINNATI, OH
When Myles Garrett delivered his biting commentary about needing to hear ownership’s plan this coming offseason, he alluded to speaking for “a lot of the guys on the defense.”
Now, nobody’s pointing fingers, but … good Lord, there were three more turnovers on offense here on Sunday, including a lost fumble while crossing the goal line and an interception in the end zone.
And Jameis Winston wasn't even active for the game.
The result was another Browns loss, 24-6, to the Cincinnati Bengals on a day the defense made Joe Burrow work hard – like it did to Patrick Mahomes a week earlier -- for his 250-plus yards and three touchdowns.
Sure, Burrow turned a D’Onta Foreman lost fumble into a 99-yard scoring drive to start the game, and he finished it with a garbage-time TD to Ja’Marr Chase to reach the 250-yard, 3-TD mark for the seventh consecutive game. The Bengals kept alive their playoff hopes and improved to 7-8.
This is not to take the defense off the hook, but try to sense the frustration of seeing the offense give away game after game after game. The Browns have 30 giveaways on offense and special teams through 15 games, which explains the team’s spiralling 3-12 record as much as anything.
Foreman, the short-yardage replacement for unwanted Kareem Hunt, had been inactive for six straight games when coach Kevin Stefanski sent him in to complete an opening drive set up by Jerome Ford’s 66-yard run on the first play from scrimmage.
Running behind an extra linemen and linebacker Winston Reid as a lead-blocking fullback, Foreman had the ball stripped by safety Vonn Bell as he was crossing the goal line. Bell recovered at the 1.
“Oh, it sucks. It definitely sucks,” said safety Juan Thornhill. “Every turnover does. Momentum is everything. With this defense, if we get on top, 7-0, it can change the outcome of the game.”
Burrow, who completed the ensuing drive with a TD to Tee Higgins while falling, outstretched and parallel to the ground after tripping on a teammate, said, “That was a big-time momentum swing.”
As it happened, falling behind by only one score was the worst possible way for Dorian Thompson-Robinson to begin his first start of the year. He was frantic the entire first half before settling down after intermission. By then, the Bengals were ahead, 17-0.
“We have to forget about it and move on to the next play,” DTR said of Foreman’s fumble. “I don’t need anyone in my ear about the interceptions. You have to move on.”
DTR made some plays with his feet (49 yards on 9 runs) and did manage a 70-yard TD drive in the third quarter. But his two interceptions in the fourth quarter intended for tight end David Njoku – one in the end zone – left him glum about his first real chance on the field this year.
“It hurts,” said Thompson-Robinson (20 of 34, 157 yards, 5 sacks, 2 INT, 45.8 passer rating). “It's not going to hurt no more than this, so at this point, it can only get better. We're going to get back to the drawing board tomorrow.
“I can't cuss, but there's a word I want to say. It wasn't a good day. Good moments don't win football games. Good moments are not the definition of a quarterback. A quarterback is there to play a complete, full game and to lead his team to victory, and I did not do so today. We've been harping all week on turnovers. I had two, myself. At the end of the day, we lost this game off of turnovers and I've got to do a better job in that situation.”
DTR didn’t help his own cause by targeting receiver Jerry Jeudy only three times (he caught two and drew a pass interference on the third). It was Jeudy’s quietest game since the Deshaun Watson era.
“There were a lot of double teams. That’s it. For real,” Jeudy said.
Stefanski said DTR would get another start Sunday against Miami in the last home game.
Meantime, Burrow was able to connect with his top receiver, Ja’Marr Chase, six times in eight targets for 97 yards and a TD. Burrow also tossed TDs to Higgins and Andrei Iosivas.
The last one, to Chase, with 1:44 left in the game, looked like a case of Burrow wanting to extend his amazing streak. But Myles Garrett jumped offsides before the snap and the Browns’ defense seemed to quit on the play.
“Shoot, this is professional football. We’re in the NFL. We got to finish that play,” said linebacker Jordan Hicks. “It felt like everybody kind of stopped when we jumped offsides.”
Hicks didn’t take offense to Burrow’s aggressiveness at the end.
“Not at all,” he said. “This is a division rivalry, in-state rivalry. To me, it’s like what do you expect? They’re going to go for the jugular.”
The Browns did chase Burrow all over, sacking him four times, stripping him once for their lone takeaways, and hitting him 10 other times.
Garrett notched one of the sacks to put him at 100.5 in the 115th game of his career. He’s the only NFL player of 45 to record 100 sacks before his 29th birthday (on December 29). He joined Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor as the only player to record 12 or more sacks in five consecutive seasons.
“That’s great company to be with,” Garrett said. “But we remember L.T. because he won and did all those things. And I want to get to winning.”
That’s why Garrett wants to have conversations with ownership and management after the season.
“There’s nothing I said [on Friday] that anybody was unaware of,” he said. “I always put the focus on winning. We’ll talk about it after the last game.”