CLEVELAND — If the Cleveland Browns want to finish with a 5-2-1 record at FirstEnergy Stadium this season, they must be ready to play a full 60-minute game against a Cincinnati Bengals team ready to respond after the first installment of “The Battle of Ohio” last month.
With the Bengals still smarting from the 35-20 loss on their home field at Paul Brown Stadium and Browns rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield essentially refusing to speak with his former coach, Cincinnati special assistant Hue Jackson, and later, calling him “fake” in a social-media response, there are no shortage of storylines between the in-state rivals heading into today’s game at FirstEnergy Stadium.
“It is alright,” Mayfield said earlier this week. “Football is an angry, violent game. If you play anything but pissed off, I do not think that you are doing it right.”
Here are three things to watch for during today’s game between the Browns and Bengals.
WINNING MINDSET
Mayfield is serious about being a catalyst for a change within the culture of the Browns, and he did not mince words when letting that point be known following Wednesday’s practice at team headquarters in Berea.
Mayfield told reporters that the main goal should be on winning, and anybody who was not on board with that line of thinking need not report for work.
“We want to win our last two games, and if the guys don’t want to do that, they need to get out,” Mayfield said. “That’s, quite frankly, how I feel. We’ve got a lot of guys that are playing on their contract year. That also doesn’t need to be a distraction.
“You need to go out and do your job. The best thing that we can do right now is win football games, and right now, the Cincinnati Bengals are our goal.”
MIXON’S IMPACT
With starting quarterback Andy Dalton and multi-time All-Pro wide receiver A.J. Green out for the balance of the year because of injuries, the Bengals have relied heavily on the productivity of second-year running back Joe Mixon, and he has delivered.
Through 12 games this season, Mixon has rushed for 995 yards on 207 carries and already eclipsed a career single-year best with eight running scores. Also, Mixon has converted a career-high 40 catches into 284 yards and one touchdown.
In two years with the Bengals, Mixon has rushed for 1,621 yards and 12 touchdowns on 385 carries. Additionally, Mixon has been on the receiving end of 70 passes, which he has converted into 571 yards and one score.
“A really good running back,” Browns interim coach Gregg Williams said. “He poses different strengths than some of the backs here recently have. He is a powerful, run over your face kind of runner, too. You can have everything sound and you can have everything gap sound, force sound, and then, all of a sudden, he runs over your face or he is able to cut and run through two people.
“I think they do a good job with those type of backs. You try to get everybody blocked and leave one guy unblocked, and that is his guy. They determine that. They have a couple of schemes where they do it that way where they say, ‘Okay, Mix. You have to make this guy miss or you have to run over the guy.’ He does a good job with that.”
RED-ZONE OFFENSE
Red-zone offense was a struggle for the Browns throughout the 2017 season, as then-rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer threw multiple interceptions and lost several fumbles inside the opponents’ 20-yard line, but the opposite has proven true for the 2018 team and Mayfield.
Mayfield and the Browns have scored touchdowns in 15 of their last 16 trips inside the red zone.
“I think it is execution, maybe a sense of urgency,” offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens said. “Once you get into that area of the field, you know that you can get points. You know that you have got to get points and you are trying to get touchdowns. I think it goes back to players executing in critical situation.”
The Browns had plenty of success in converting red-zone opportunities into touchdowns in recent weeks, and that was a trend that continued against the Broncos in the fourth quarter of last week’s 17-16 win in Denver.
Mayfield connected on a two-yard touchdown pass to a fellow rookie, wide receiver Antonio Callaway, and with the extra point, the Browns took a 17-13 lead over the Broncos with 11:44 to play in regulation.
“His execution has picked up, and the people around him, their execution has picked up,” interim offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens said. “Sometimes, with guys, a sense of urgency helps their execution level, and I think that has been the case.”
