Browns vs. Bengals: Score and Twitter Reaction for Thursday Night Football

The physical nature of the AFC North often has intradivisional battles resembling boxing matches, but on Thursday night, there was only one team throwing haymakers.

The Cleveland Browns went into Paul Brown Stadium and thoroughly dominated the Cincinnati Bengals, 24-3, to move into a tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers atop the division.

To stay with the boxing metaphor, this one was akin to Muhammad Ali vs. Glass Joe. The Browns outgained Cincinnati, 368-165, forced four turnovers and used a relentless rush attack to hold the ball for over 35 minutes.

Fox Sports' Ross Jones put the crucial road win in perspective for the Browns, who now have six victories in a season for the first time since 2007:

Terrance West, Ben Tate and Isaiah Crowell combined for 169 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Together, the trio nearly doubled Andy Dalton's output, as the Bengals quarterback was historically bad.

Sports Illustrated's Peter King and the Associated Press' Tim Booth summed up the $96 million man's performance:

Marvin Lewis, via ESPN's Coley Harvey, discussed Dalton's poor outing, noting his increasingly infamous struggles in prime-time matchups:

For the second Thursday in a row, the home team's performance drew a chorus of boos from the fans, and this time around, it didn't take long for the fans to get into a frenzy. 

The Bengals had eight first-half possessions. Two ended in giveaways, five ended in punts, and one, which started on Cleveland's 32-yard line, ended in a field goal.

Dalton's throws were floating inaccurately like wiffle balls in the wind, as he threw 16 times for 38 yards and an interception. Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith summarized the QB's first-half performance:

It didn't seem possible, but things would only go downhill from there, as illustrated by NFL Network:

On the other side, the Browns simply continued to eat clock. They pounded the ball with their three-headed rushing attack and quarterback Brian Hoyer, who finished with 198 yards and made accurate throws down the field when needed.

Crowell and Tate each scored on short runs in the first half, and West added his own one-yard plunge in the third quarter to make it 24-3. At that point, this was about all that needed to be said, as noted by Sports Illustrated's Chris Burke:

Somehow, it still continued to get worse. Dalton threw two more interceptions in the fourth quarter and was ultimately benched for Jason Campbell to close out the game. Bleacher Report's Ian Kenyon put it simply:

Now tied with the Steelers at 6-3 overall and 2-2 in the division, the Browns will host the Houston Texans next Sunday in their final game before explosive wide receiver Josh Gordon rejoins the team. Make no mistake about it: This team is a legitimate playoff contender.

Cincy (5-3-1) remains right on Cleveland's heels despite Thursday's debacle, but with a road trip to New Orleans on the docket, things may get worse—well, stay bad—before they get better.