CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns sit at 4-4 on the season and have been one of the top stories in the NFL this week as the Odell Beckham Jr. era in Cleveland has seemingly come to an explosive end.
While that’s the biggest headline, the Browns do have an immensely important game this Sunday on the road in Cincinnati against the second-place Bengals.
Here are three keys for the Browns to beat the Bengals on Sunday and put their season back on track.
Block out the drama
It can be hard for a team to focus when so much has gone wrong inside the locker room. That’s going to make this week the most important game of the season for the Browns.
There are really two options with how things can go: either the Browns rally together as a team, move past the events of this week, and play their best football game of the season on Sunday while beating the Bengals and keeping their playoff dreams alive, or the locker room picks sides and splinters apart, leaving this to be just another lost season in the history of the Cleveland Browns.
It’s safe to say that Beckham Jr. won’t be on the field for the Browns on Sunday -- or really ever again -- and that means we will get another look at just how good quarterback Baker Mayfield is without him. Last year, Beckham Jr. tore his left ACL during the game in Cincinnati, and Mayfield’s season took off the very next quarter. It isn’t too crazy to think he explodes for his best game of the season in the same stadium this year. If that happens, the Bengals could be just the elixir that the Browns need to save their tumultuous season.
Mayfield needs to let it rip
Part of the reason the Browns have struggled offensively isn’t just because Mayfield and Beckham haven’t been on the same page, but also because the Browns haven’t been able to throw the ball deep effectively. Mayfield needs to take more chances in the deep and intermediate areas of the field. There appears to be apprehension on Mayfield’s part to throw interceptions -- he only has three on the season -- but that has also may have taken away the necessary aggressiveness for the quarterback to have.
If the Browns have wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones back from a groin injury, that would add another weapon for Mayfield to throw to. Throwing to wide receivers has been a struggle for this Browns offense all season long, and that needs to change sooner than later. Peoples-Jones, Jarvis Landry and Rashard Higgins need to make their impact felt in a way that hasn’t been all season long. No wide receiver has had more than 100 yards in a game this season, and changing that on Sunday would go a long way towards helping the Browns earn a potentially season-saving win. The Browns have had four games this season where they have scored 17 points or less, and they’re likely going to need to score 30 points or more this weekend.
Create turnovers
The Browns have had some bright spots defensively this year, but ultimately have come up short in one area that could go a long way toward winning games, and that’s the turnover category. The Browns have just five takeaways in eight games this season. The only team in the NFL that has fewer takeaways is the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Browns have too many talented players on the defensive side of the ball to not create the type of positive momentum that turnovers bring. While the Bengals offense has been pretty strong overall this season, they have been susceptible to turning the ball over at times, with 10 turnovers, with nine of those being interceptions.
Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett should be able to get to Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow more than once, and this week would be the perfect time for his first strip-sack of the season.