Browns vs. Bengals: Cleveland Grades, Notes and Quotes

Johnny Manziel was better but wasn’t good enough to lead the Cleveland Browns to a Thursday night upset of the still undefeated Cincinnati Bengals.

Meanwhile, Andy Dalton continues to look like the real deal. He hooked up with Tyler Eifert for three red-zone scores and played lead blocker for Mohamed Sanu’s 25-yard end-around touchdown run. Both went untouched into the end zone.

Cincinnati scored easily with Eifert’s first touchdown of the game to take an early lead on its first possession. But Cleveland fired back immediately. Manziel led his offense down the field on a 14-play, 71-yard drive that should have resulted in a touchdown. Taylor Gabriel dropped his first pass of many, though—one that would have been the early equalizer.

Travis Coons hit a 27-yard field goal two plays later. That successful try kept the rookie kicker perfect on the season.

Leading into halftime, the Browns and Bengals then traded three-and-outs and then touchdowns.

Defensive lineman Randy Starks should get an assist for those seven Bengals points. After stuffing a run play, the veteran was flagged for taunting. Then, at the Browns 6-yard line, he was flagged for lining up offside on a fourth-down play that failed. Dalton found Eifert again, and the Browns were suddenly in bad shape, down 14-3 in the final minutes of the first half.

Manziel and the Browns responded with the team’s longest drive of the season—Cleveland went 92 yards on 12 plays in just over four minutes. The touchdown throw by Manziel was vintage Johnny Football. From the Cincinnati 12, he scrambled right, and Duke Johnson raised his arm while dragging across the goal line. While on the run, the quarterback threw a dart that found its intended target for six points.

That 14-10 deficit would be the last glimmer of hope for Cleveland.

Minutes later and on his way to the locker room, Browns coach Mike Pettine said he wanted his quarterback to make more plays from the pocket, because there were plays to be had. He added he wanted Manziel to “calm down” out there, implying his quarterback wasn’t playing from the script and utilizing his tendency to improvise.

That attempt at reining in Manziel backfired, and the Bengals loved it, because he was hurting them with those types of plays. The Browns’ second-half performance was hampered by Manziel staying in the pocket and not doing the things that have made him successful.

Cincinnati put 17 points on the board on another Eifert touchdown, a Mike Nugent field goal and that Sanu reverse run. Cleveland punted four times and turned the ball over on downs on its five second-half possessions. The Browns had the ball for just 8:25 of the final two quarters and ran a designed running play just once—their first play from scrimmage in the third quarter.

Position Grades for Browns

Frank Victores/Associated Press

Position	Grade
QB	C+
RB	B+
WR	D
TE	C+
OL	C-
DL	D+
LB	D
DB	C-
Special Teams	C-
Coaching	D

It’s hard to fault Manziel for playing successfully while operating in the ways that got him to the NFL in the first place. He was never thought to be a potentially prolific pocket passer, but it was hoped he could do enough from there to get by while also using his legs to make splash plays. And it’s hard to blame him for missed opportunities—drops, a lot of them—and questionable play-calling, but we’ll get more into that later.

Manziel played a decent game and certainly showed he at least deserves a chance to earn the trust of his coaching staff by getting more starts this season. The Browns are 2-7, and there is no sense in going back to Josh McCown while Manziel sits on the bench in what has quickly become a lost season. If they need McCown, the Browns know what he gives them, and they could always go back to him next season if they don’t see enough in Manziel.

The rest of the Browns offense wasn’t bad. The offensive line was adequate at times but didn’t do Manziel many favors, even against three- and four-man rushes. On a 3rd-and-long, Cincinnati sent just three rushers, but Alex Mack blocked a ghost, and Joel Bitonio was embarrassed by Geno Atkins. The quarterback went down quickly due to near-instant pressure from the standout defensive tackle.

Run blocking looked better sporadically, but the Bengals defensive linemen were clearly dictating the line of scrimmage, especially on longer stretch-run plays. That improvement was the total group effort, including tight ends.

After big weeks with McCown under center, Gary Barnidge didn’t make much of an impact in the passing game, though. He caught just two of his seven targets for 35 yards. One third-down incompletion was just above his helmet, but Barnidge could only get one hand on it and couldn't reel it in.

Isaiah Crowell got the opportunity to be the main rusher this week. He looked good too, at least before halftime. He ran direct and with a short burst that was reminiscent of his rookie season, and he also appeared to get better with the more carries he got. But the Browns called just one run play in the second half, and Crowell disappeared from the stat sheet from there.

Duke Johnson, again, proved to be a valuable but underused commodity. Over the last two weeks, he has four catches for 106 yards and one touchdown but has received zero touches in the second half of both games. Chalk that up to things that cannot be explained.

Cleveland’s receivers were a mess, with Dwayne Bowe leading all of them with three grabs for 31 yards—and two of those came late in the game in what we like to call “garbage time.” Taylor Gabriel had at least three drops—one would-be touchdown and a would-be first down—and caught just one pass for three yards on six targets. Travis Benjamin had a ball hit his chest and then the ground, but he did finish with three catches.

What else is there to say about the Browns defense at this point? The team played well for one half and then either magically forgot how to play football, or something else happened.

Desmond Bryant logged his third sack of the season and third in the last three games. Paul Kruger even got into the backfield and recorded his first solo sack of the season, beating backup right tackle Eric Winston, who was starting in place of Andre Smith. Armonty Bryant was noticeably active and looked like one of the biggest and fastest players on the field for the Browns defense.

Nate Orchard diagnosed a read-option play by Dalton and dropped him for a five-yard loss, forcing Cincinnati’s lone field-goal attempt of the game. Starting in place of Donte Whitner, Ibraheim Campbell also looked responsive and quick. He was somewhat impressive even, for stretches at least.

The biggest surprise for the Browns defense was Tramon Williams' poor performance. He bit on a double move by Eifert that turned into an easy touchdown toss for Dalton and also was beaten by a few yards on a key 3rd-and-8 that kept a Bengals' third-quarter drive alive. He did break up a deep attempt from Dalton to A.J. Green, but even then he was yards behind the receiver before recovering nicely at the last second.

The coaches don’t appear to be making proper adjustments at halftime, developing players or using the right players at the right times. Johnson’s omission from the second-half game plans over the last two weeks is an inexplicable offense. And the curious decision to abandon the run game after that first play of the second half is a head-scratcher.

It's clear to anyone who is paying attention that the coaches are slowly losing the confidence of their players. This is a familiar place for the Browns organization. Although no one wants to keep firing coaches and their staffs, there is a certain point when team management needs to admit it made a mistake and move on. We’re getting close to that juncture.

Special teams for the Browns were bad overall. Even standout and reliable punter Andy Lee had a rough outing, shanking two of his five punts. Marlon Moore did block a punt late in the game, but it didn’t turn into points and was too little, too late.

Browns Outscored Again in Second Half

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

The Browns have been competitive this season, but their inability to finish games is killing them.

St. Louis, Arizona and Cincinnati have nearly shut them out over the last three weeks, outscoring Cleveland 55 to three. The halftime scores of those games were 3-10, 20-10 and 10-14, respectively.

Whatever adjustments that need to take place in the locker room just aren’t happening, unless you glance over at the other sidelines.

Attribute it to the players—or who acquired them—or whoever you want to blame, but this is a clear coaching failure that has to be fixed.

The Browns are also just 2-12 over their last 14 games dating back to 2014.

Browns Allow 150-Plus Rushing Yards for Seventh Time

Andrew Weber/Getty Images

Arizona and San Diego are the only teams not to rush for 150 or more rushing yards against the Browns in 2015. That’s simply not acceptable for an NFL defense, especially one as highly touted and highly paid as Cleveland’s group.

In trying to fix the glaring problem, Jim O’Neil’s defensive staff has made strides but has seemed to overcorrect the lapses. The new aggressive approach has players pressing, and they’re now out of position and susceptible to back-side lapses and big plays. They're still getting beaten, just in different ways.

It’s truly the worst-case scenario.

Joe Thomas: Manziel Took a Step Against Bengals

Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Thomas doesn’t seem to think Manziel struggled, despite Cleveland's second-half goose egg. You could say the opposite based on his postgame comments.

The trusty veteran left tackle said he thinks the young quarterback even took a step forward and eclipsed his performance during the team’s Week 2 win over Tennessee, according to Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal.

Thomas has been outspoken about Manziel in the past. However, this year, the quarterback appears to be winning him over. And winning the locker room, especially the central voice of the collective, is a big step in the right direction for the polarizing second-year signal-caller.

Manziel: Our Faith Is Being Tested

Andrew Weber/Getty Images

Manziel isn't guaranteed to start the rest of the season, but he sounds like a quarterback who isn't ready to give up on his teammates.

"It's not over. We still have a chance to do some good things and show we have a lot of fight left in us," Manziel said during the postgame press conference. "But right now, I think our faith is being tested a little bit."

He was also asked about Gabriel's drops, including an early would-be touchdown that hit his chest. Manziel didn't hesitate to defend his teammate and took responsibility for the loss. He also recognized and made himself accountable for his own poor play in the second half.

We can only speculate whether McCown will resume the starting role next week against Pittsburgh, but at 2-7, the Browns should make the switch to an improved and effective Manziel.

Manziel quote courtesy of ClevelandBrowns.com.

Mike Hoag (@MikeHoagJr) covers the Cleveland Browns for Bleacher Report and is the managing editor of Browns Beat.