Browns lose in Cincy

Move over, Gronkowski. Eifert’s time to shine appears to have arrived.

Eifert caught three touchdown passes from Andy Dalton on Thursday night, leading the unbeaten Bengals to a 31-10 victory over the Johnny Manziel and the Cleveland Browns that put Cincinnati in totally new territory.

“He’s so good and has such a great feel for getting open”, Dalton said. “I’m happy for him. He definitely helps this team win”. He also tied the franchise single-season mark for touchdown receptions for tight ends. He looked good too, at least before halftime. The Bengals made a few halftime adjustments and they were able to contain him well in the second half.

But, Eifert suffered season-ending shoulder and elbow injuries in the season opener, requiring offensive coordinator Hue Jackson to amend the playbook. The most important thing is that we’re winning games.

Boykin is having a huge year for the Horned Frogs – he has them off to an 8-0 start, and has thrown for more than 2,900 yards, 28 touchdowns and only has five interceptions. No one knows because Manziel hasn’t been given an honest-to-goodness chance to be an National Football League starter. Two plays later, Dalton and Eifert connected again, this time for a 2-yard touchdown making the score 14-3.Manziel was 11 of 18 for 128 yards in the first half and capped off a 92-yard drive by finding Duke Johnson for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 19 seconds left in the half.

“It doesn’t matter”, said Eifert, who’s second on the team with 35 catches for 434 yards. “That’s what’s so big”.

“He’s made plays down the field”. It isn’t about Pettine, who has the narrow focus of a coach trying to win as many games as he possibly can. Their next game is Monday night at home against Houston (3-5), followed by a trip to Arizona (6-2) for a Sunday night game. Pettine is likely to do the “smart thing” and continue with McCown and see if he can continue to do a better job than Manziel did in running the offense.

With the division seemingly in hand, Cincinnati can focus on positioning itself for the playoffs where it hasn’t won a game in 25 years. In their running game, they use their tight ends [blocking-wise] on force players or extended players, so that’s really compatible with the skills of an athletic tight end.

Andy Dalton trusts him enough to put the ball up and let him out-jump a shorter defender. He’s second on the team with 37 catches for 434 yards and ranks among the NFL’s top tight ends in catching passes.

Wide receiver Mohamed Sanu had the only rushing touchdown of the game.

“No, I can’t (say he’ll play the next game)”, Pettine said after Thursday’s 31-10 loss to the Bengals.

The Bengals, who improved their record to 8-0, got the ball back with 44 seconds to play in the game, and Cincinnati sent McCarron into a regular-season contest for the first time. Giovani Bernard showed how special he can be when he earned 72 yards on 13 carriers.

The numbers looked much different midway through that second half.

But, Cincinnati’s defence sacked Manziel three times in the second half, holding Cleveland to just 32 total yards.

Manziel had a good drive, and otherwise played mistake-free football (which is an encouraging sign). Whether taking off for chunks of yards or scrambling and throwing on the run, he is tough to contain. The quarterback went down quickly due to near-instant pressure from the standout defensive tackle. Mike Nugent’s 28-yard field goal gave the Bengals a 17-10 lead. It was that type of game for the Browns.

For a half Thursday, Johnny Manziel got the kind of redemption he’d been seeking against the Bengals ever since his first career start against them late last season didn’t go as planned.