Andy Dalton admits that burying last year’s Browns game was big

Andy Dalton has thrown two touchdown passes to Tyler Eifert and the Cincinnati Bengals defense survived a scare from Pro Bowl linebacker Vontaze Burfict to take a 14-10 lead at halftime.

“The penalties that come from a lack of discipline, we addressed it when it happened, and we’ll address it again”, Pettine said. “I’ve just been released from the hospital and the road to recovery has started!!!” There’s a couple of balls that we want him to make from in the pocket, but you can’t argue with his production.

When you look at what the Bengals defense has done this year, the overall stats aren’t impressive on the surface. It was to be expected though, the Browns, a struggling team against the Bengals, one of the NFL’s top teams.

But, Eifert suffered season-ending shoulder and elbow injuries in the season opener, requiring offensive coordinator Hue Jackson to amend the playbook.

“His last 15 snaps when the game kind of got away from us, he did not play very well”, Pettine said. A win in this game would build a lot of momentum rolling into the postseason. He took good care of the football, however, and didn’t throw a single interception.

“It seems like every week it’s a first-time-ever”, receiver Marvin Jones said. Tyler Eifert must have looked nine feet tall to Dalton as he found him three times in the redzone for scores.

Travis Benjamin has not caught a touchdown since Week 3 (reminiscent of last season) and has just 10 receptions for 95 yards over the past three games.

“We are beginning a national search for the best leadership to manage our team going forward”, Ford said. “That’s what’s so big”. He scored touchdowns on three different types of plays.

With the size of a defensive end and a gait a few receivers envy, Eifert possesses the same odd pairing of tools that have made the virtually uncoverable Gronkowski a household name in New England and overseas over the years. He’s a quarterback that still needs to play more games and needs intensive coaching on what he is doing wrong or right. The primetime Thursday night game will be followed by a Monday night showdown between the Bengals and the Texans.

Cincinnati runners combined for 154 yards rushing in the game.

“It doesn’t matter”, he said. I think that’s tough for any quarterback to just start a half under those circumstances, and it still falls back on what I’ve said all along: We’ve got to be better around him.

-PASSING OFFENSE: A. So much for Andy Dalton not performing well in prime time. He completed 21 of 27 passes for 234 yards while posting a 139.8 passer rating. He caught 39 passes and had two touchdowns as a rookie in 2013.

Cincinnati pulled away in the third, however, starting with a Mohamed Sanu 25-yard TD run off a reverse. At this time one year ago, the Cleveland Browns walked out of Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati with their best win of the 2014 season in front of a national television audience.

Cincinnati figured to run the ball against the worst rush defense in the league, and they had 154 yards on the ground, led by Gio Bernard’s 71.

Manziel competed 15-of-33 passes for 168 yards and one touchdown.

Johnny Manziel started for the second time this season at quarterback for the injured Josh McCown.

Johnny Manziel started and played well in the first half. Cincinnati held the Browns to only 69 yards, including a team-leading 38 by Isaiah Crowell. Unfortunately Cleveland again came up short on fourth and goal at the Bengals’ ten yard line.