The Cincinnati Bengals are 7-0 for the first time in franchise history, and should have plenty of motivation facing the Cleveland Browns on Thursday Night Football to get their eighth straight win.
Browns vs. Bengals 2015, ‘Thursday Night Football’ preview: Cincinnati looks to extend historic unbeaten run
Who is going to show up on Thursday night, Daytime Dalton or Primetime Dalton?
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All they have to do is flash back to the last time the Browns visited the Queen City, nearly a year ago on a Thursday night in early November. The result was one of the Bengals' ugliest losses of 2014 -- a 24-3 blowout -- and the worst start of Andy Dalton's career. He finished with a 2.0 passer rating, the lowest by any quarterback (with at least 30 attempts) since Scott Brunner for the New York Giants in 1983. Although Cincy did end up returning the favor a month later with a 30-0 win at Cleveland, revenge would still be sweet for Dalton, who is probably still trying to erase the bad memory of last year's debacle.
Unbeaten and in command of the AFC North race with a 3.5-game lead over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Bengals are near-locks to make the playoffs and cruise to a division title. No team has started 7-0 and missed the playoffs in the Super Bowl era, and it would take a monumental collapse for the Bengals to surrender their division crown as well. With homefield advantage and a first-round bye still up for grabs, they can't look past a 2-6 Browns team that has actually beaten them in three of their past five meetings.
The Browns are staring at another double-digit loss season, and things won’t get any easier from here on out as they face one of the league’s toughest remaining slates. Thursday night’s tilt in Cincinnati is the first of four straight division games, book-ended by another matchup against those same Bengals, and they also have a road trip to Seattle in December.
Facing the unbeaten Bengals on a short week was going to be a huge challenge regardless of who was under center for the Browns. With Josh McCown nursing a painful rib injury and ruled out of Thursday's game, the task somehow became even more brutal. The Browns will turn the offense over to Johnny Manziel, who has played only a handful of snaps the last two weeks and hasn't seen significant on-field action since starting Week 2 against the Tennessee Titans.
Digits
Although the Bengals are enjoying a historic start to the season and have established themselves as legit contenders in the AFC, their status as a truly elite team won’t be validated until they shed the label of not being able to win on the biggest of stages.
While much of that narrative comes from their four straight Wild Card round exits in the postseason, it’s also true that they’ve struggled in primetime games recently, though they did beat the Denver Broncos last December on Monday Night Football. The Bengals are 3-14 in their last 17 games at night, and of those 14 losses, just four have come by a touchdown or less.
Dalton has been the driving force behind Cincy’s undefeated charge and he appears to be a more confident and polished passer this year. But his impressive season will have an asterisk attached to it until he shows he can perform in the spotlight. He’s already passed one test by winning at Heinz Field on Sunday; his next challenge is getting a “W” under the lights on Thursday.
While that might not seem too difficult with the Browns coming to town, the reality is that the difference between Daytime Dalton and Primetime Dalton is staggering: in night games, he is 3-7 and has thrown as many touchdowns as interceptions (11), averaging just 5.6 yards per throw in those 10 contests. He’s won 73 percent of his other games as a starter, averaging over 7 yards per attempt with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of nearly 2-to-1.
One of the biggest reasons for optimism in Cincinnati is that, unlike in past years, this team features a truly explosive offense. The Bengals rank third in yards per play, points per game and red zone scoring efficiency, and have put up at least 24 points in six of seven games. Last year they were outside the top 10 in each of those metrics and scored 24-plus points in barely half of their contests.
The Bengals’ offense could be in for another monster game on Thursday, facing a Browns defense that gives up yardage and points in droves. They rank dead last in rushing defense, 30th in total defense and 26th in scoring defense, and have held just one team (Titans) under 24 points this season. They have shown few signs of being able to stop even an average offense, let alone an elite unit like Cincinnati’s.
Who to Watch
Gary Barnidge is one of the NFL's most unexpected breakout stars in 2015. He has a career-high six touchdown catches, is tied for the most receptions (40) among tight ends and ranks second behind Rob Gronkowski in receiving yards (567). He faces a stiff challenge to keep up that scoring pace on Thursday night, however, against a Bengals defense that hasn't allowed a touchdown catch by a tight end this season.
As noted above, the Browns have the worst run defense in the league, which means that the Bengals' backfield duo of Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard are primed to be fantasy darlings this week. Bernard's average of 5.6 yards per rush ranks third among qualified backs, while Hill is coming off a solid 15-carry, 60-yard performance that showcased his physical running style with several bruising runs against the Steelers.
How to watch
When: 8:25 p.m. ET
Where: Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati
TV: NFL Network
Announcers: Jim Nantz, Phil Simms, Tracy Wolfson
Online: NFL Game Pass
Preliminary Judgment
The Bengals are overwhelming favorites to beat the Browns on Thursday night. All of the experts over at CBS Sports and here at SB Nation have Cincy becoming the league’s first eight-win team this season.
Odds
The Bengals opened as 11.5-point favorites and the over/under is 46, according to OddsShark.com.
Further Reading
For more on the Browns, head over to Dawgs By Nature. To read up on the Bengals, be sure to visit Cincy Jungle.
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