The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
BATTLE OF OHIO
Browns and Bengals face off in home opener
Cleveland Browns fans cheer during the first half of an NFL football game between the Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland Sept. 17.
THE SCORE BROWNS 35, BENGALS 30 Up next: Washington visits FirstEnergy Stadium on Sept. 27.
Baker Mayfield threw two touchdown passes, Nick Chubb ran for two scores and 124 yards and the Browns gave coach Kevin Stefanski his first NFL victory Sept. 17 by beating the Bengals 3530 on the NFL’s 100th birthday.
Mayfield connected with Odell Beckham Jr. on a 43-yard scoring pass in the first half, and the Browns (1-1) rebounded from an atrocious performance last week in Baltimore, where they were roughed up 38-6 by the Ravens and looked mostly inept in Stefanski’s debut.
Things went much more smoothly against the Bengals (02) and No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow, who threw three TD passes and showed incredible poise in just his second game.
Burrow’s third TD pass — a 9-yarder to Tyler Boyd with 43 seconds left — pulled the Bengals within five, but the Browns recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock.
Mayfield made it a priority to get the ball early to Beckham, who had only three catches for 22 yards in the opener. Beckham finished with four catches for 74 yards.
Mayfield completed 16 of 23 passes for 219 yards and one interception.
Kareem Hunt had a TD catch, ran for a score and rushed for 86 yards for Cleveland.
Burrow finished 37 of 61 for 316 yards. He was sacked three times, and had an unfortunate moment when he tried to call timeout and had the ball snapped past him.