Team looks to rebound against rival Bengals

The Browns’ four-game winning streak ended abruptly last week. Can they snatch momentum back?

The Browns’ four-game winning streak ended abruptly last week in Pittsburgh, and all they want to do now is stop the bleeding before it gets to the point where they have to apply a tourniquet.

At 4-2 heading into their 1 p.m. Oct. 25 game with the Bengals in Cincinnati, the Browns would be a wildcard team if this were the first day of the playoffs instead of Week 7 of the regular season.

That likely would not be the case if they walk out of Paul Brown Stadium 4-3.

“We wanted to compete, we wanted to play better (in the 38-7 loss to the Steelers) and we wanted to do all these things, but we can’t do anything about the last game,” left guard Joel Bitonio said.

“We can’t let one turn into two. That’s just been our motto this week. I know Cincinnati is going to come and give us a heck of a game.”

The Bengals (1-4-1) have lost two straight since tying the Eagles on Sept. 27 and then beating Jacksonville a week later. They are facing the Browns without their leading rusher, Joe Mixon (foot injury). Mixon was held to 46 yards on 16 carries when the Browns edged Cincinnati, 35-30, in the second game of the season. Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow threw a season-most 61 passes and three touchdown passes in that game.

As determined as the Browns are to get back to winning, the Bengals are equally determined to build a brighter future for Burrow, even if it doesn’t pay off in 2020.

Burrow has been sacked 24 times this season. He was dumped eight times by the Ravens two weeks ago. A strip-sack by Browns defensive end Myles Garrett at the Bengals 1 and fumble recovery by teammate Joe Jackson in the game last month led to a one-yard touchdown run by Nick Chubb and a 2813 Browns lead.

“(Garrett) can change a game in a second,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said on a conference call. “He did it against the ( Washington Football Team). They were trying to get back in it, and he had the sack-fumble. He’s been doing it his entire career.

“He’s a special player, and you need to make sure he doesn’t wreck the game. You have to be aware of him at all times.”

The strip-sack was the Browns’ only takeaway in the Cincinnati game, but since it happened at the Bengals’ 1, it was as close to being a defensive touchdown as could be without the defense getting the actual points. They had three interceptions and three fumble recoveries in beating Washington, 34-20, one interception and two fumble recoveries when they beat the Cowboys, 49-38, and two interceptions in beating the Colts, 32-23. Ronnie Harrison had a 47yard pick six against Indianapolis.

The Browns had no takeaways in Pittsburgh.

Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield threw two interceptions. One was a picksix on the third play of the game.

“Every team lives and dies by (takeaways),” Garrett said on Zoom. “You see historically from the turnover margin how teams put themselves in a hole or give themselves an advantage on winning or losing a game.

“I feel responsible for my team winning or losing every time. I know I’m out there to make big plays, and that’s what I look forward to doing every time I get the chance to. It’s on all of us, but I feel a little bit more pressure on myself to make those.”

Garrett has three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and seven of the Browns’ 14 sacks this season.