See, this is the type of game that Cincinnati Bengals fans have been waiting for from their 2013 first round draft pick and tight end Tyler Eifert. Eifert made his statistical ledger for the 2015 season look good as well as his quarterback Andy Dalton, as the Bengals pushed aside the Cleveland Browns 31-10 at Paul Brown Stadium.
In Eifert’s three-year career thus far, it’s one thing or another. Either he’s hurt, not targeted enough, or it’s his blocking that is of more concern to Bengals offensive coordinators—–Jay Gruden in 2013 and Hue Jackson since 2014.
Tonight, Eifert caught 5 passes for 53 yards and 3 touchdowns. He had more touchdowns tonight than he had in the injury-marred and underused 2013-2014 period of his career. He has 9 touchdown receptions in 2015 thus far, which far outdistances the team’s best player in receiver A.J. Green who has 4 touchdown catches this year.
Yes, it’s great that Eifert is on one as far as production is concerned. But, of even more importance is that the Bengals (8-0 overall, 3-0 AFC North) are winning.
And their leader, Dalton, was 21 of 27 for 234 yards, 3 touchdowns and no picks tonight. Dalton has been a much disrespected quarterback by his own town (Cincinnati) and the media of said town since 2012. But he has managed to brush it off with games like this, plus the undefeated record that he has this season as the team’s starting signal-caller.
As for the Cleveland Browns (2-7 overall, 1-1 AFC North) they went with talented but unrefined second-year quarterback Johnny Manziel. He was an exciting sight all night, it’s just that he and the Browns couldn’t maintain consistency with first downs, moving into the scoring zone (20 yards on in), or score like they wanted to.
The only reason why Manziel started this game was because normal starter Josh McCown, sat out this game with a shoulder injury. Manziel went 15 of 33 for 168 yards, 1 touchdown pass and no picks in this contest.
Cincinnati put the first points on the board when Dalton looked down the middle and found Eifert, who leapt then caught the pass amid single coverage from Browns free safety Tashaun Gipson, with the tight end then falling into the end zone. With 7:08 left in the first quarter, the Bengals took a 7-0 lead.
Then late in the second quarter, Eifert got behind the Browns defense again. This time for a 2 yard touchdown reception near the back of the end zone and in front of Browns inside linebacker Chris Kirksey. It’s a good thing Eifert got open at the last moment on that play, because Dalton was under heavy pressure and looked headed for a throwaway pass out of bounds or a possible sack by outside linebacker Paul Kruger near the CLE 11 yard line. With 4:34 left in the second quarter, the Bengals took a 14-3 lead.
But just over four minutes later, the Browns showed that they had a pulse offensively. Manziel on 3rd and 5 from the CIN 12, took the snap, then he rolled to his right where he fired a pass that ended up in the hands of rookie running back Duke Johnson, who had to maintain balance and concentration to catch the pass in the end zone. With 19 seconds left in the first half, the Browns cut into the Bengals’ lead at 14-10.
There wasn’t any more scoring until the fourth quarter. Wide Receiver Mohamed Sanu scored Cincinnati’s first points of the quarter, on a double-reverse 25 yard touchdown run down the left sideline. With 13:26 left in the game, the Bengals put the game away for good with a 24-10 count.
Then later in the quarter, Eifert victimized the Browns defense again when he got behind them for a 19 yard touchdown reception. With 7:43 left in the game the score went to 31-10.
Cleveland backup receiver and special teams maven Marlon Moore on 4th and 3 for the Bengals, came up the middle and blocked a Kevin Huber punt. Moore recovered the blocked punt at the CIN 38. But all the Browns got out of that blocked punt was a 4th down Manziel incompletion into the end zone. It was that type of game for the Browns.
The Bengals on their ensuing drive did two kneel downs and the game was over.
