Burrow, Bengals hit road vs Browns on NFL’s 100th birthday
Chargers’ Williams looks to continue as big-play receiver
CLEVELAND, Sept 17, (AP): Joe Burrow’s childhood was pretty much the same as every other boy raised in football-obsessed Ohio, the NFL’s birthplace.
He learned his ABCs and multiplication tables in school. Outside, Burrow got lessons on Paul Brown, Jim Brown, Boomer Esiason, Bernie Kosar, The Ickey Shuffle and Dawg Pound.
On Thursday night, Burrow connects to those roots.
This year’s No. 1 overall draft pick, reigning Heisman Trophy winner and just maybe the quarterback to change Cincinnati’s fortunes, makes his first road start as the Bengals visit the Cleveland Browns to renew a rivalry Burrow learned about as a youngster.
“I know the history behind it,” he said. “Excited for my first one”.
The 23-yearold’s entry into the “Battle of Ohio” also comes on a significant date as it marks the 100th anniversary of the league’s start in Canton, where an organizational meeting on Sept 17, 1920 kicked things off.
Burrow’s debut last week against the Los Angeles Chargers went about as expected. He made mistakes, showed the same resilience that took him from a third-stringer at Ohio State to national champion at LSU, and had the Bengals poised for a possible win. They missed a last-second field goal to force overtime and lost 16-13.
Burrow scored his first TD on a 23yard run. He finished 23 of 36 for 193 yards, but was sharp down the stretch, going 8 of 11 for 70 yards on his drive.
“In my eyes I played terrible through 3-1/2 quarters and then played up to my standards in the last drive and almost won the game,” Burrow said. “I know I’ll be ready for it and I just have to keep that same mindset in the 2-minute drill and bring that along for the rest of the season.”
The Browns were searching for any positives after getting blown out 38-6 at Baltimore, a rout that soured any excitement about the team’s potential under first-year coach Kevin Stefanski.
Cleveland was undone by turnovers, penalties and missed kicks. Sound familiar?
It was just one game, but it was a really bad one, and it’s put early pressure on Stefanski to get things fixed quickly.
There’s also more scrutiny on quarterback Baker Mayfield. He set the tone last week with an interception on Cleveland’s first possession, and another uneven performance has raised more questions as to whether he’s the long-term answer for the Browns.
Mayfield knows he’s got to be better.
“There is a sense of urgency,” he said. “We hurt ourselves very early on in that game. The focus is on eliminating those mistakes and playing our game.”
Meanwhile, Mike Williams is softspoken during interviews, but his knack for making flashy plays has made him one of the top deep threats in the NFL.
The Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver leads the league in receptions over 35 yards since the start of last season. Williams has 11 receptions when going deep, including eight for 40 or more yards.
Williams will try to continue his success against defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Sunday as the Chargers play their first game in SoFi Stadium.
Two years ago, Williams caught a late touchdown and two-point conversion to help the Bolts upset the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. Last year, he had a 50-yard reception on fourth down to keep a late drive alive.
“He’s big and knows how to go up and get the thing. He’s a gifted athlete,” Kansas City coach Andy Reid said during a conference call.
Williams, who is in his fourth season, isn’t among the fastest receivers, but his 6-foot-4, 218-pound frame makes him a matchup problem for de
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fensive backs.
Despite missing the last two weeks of training camp with a shoulder injury, Williams played in last Sunday’s opener against Cincinnati and had four receptions for 67 yards. One was for 37 yards after he got separation from Bengals cornerback Darius Phillips before taking a hard hit from safety Jesse Bates at the Bengals 18. The long completion would later result in a Michael Badgley field goal.
Quarterback Tyrod Taylor said Williams has the biggest catching radius of any receiver he has thrown to over his 10-year career.
Taylor compared Williams to Cleveland’s Jarvis Landry and Kansas City’s Sammy Watkins (who was Taylor’s teammate in Buffalo) in terms of being able to make catches with their bodies.
“The catches you see him make in practice and games just wows you,” he said of Williams. “It gives you trust to give him more opportunities to make plays.”
Williams struggled with injuries as a rookie, but has showed the past two seasons why the Chargers took him with the seventh overall pick in 2017. He led the team with 10 touchdown catches in 2018 and had his first 1,000yard season last year with 49 receptions for 1,001 yards. His 20.4 yards-per-reception average led NFL receivers.
While Williams said he has worked on all facets of his game, offensive coordinator Shane Steichen noted Williams’ route running continues to improve.
“He was good (coming out of college at Clemson), but now he’s just so good at getting off the line of scrimmage and creating separation, you know, using his hands and coming in and out of breaks and leaning on guys. His ability to stick his foot on the ground and come out of breaks has been big,” he said.
The only thing coaches might like Williams to improve on is not diving so often or doing a better job protecting himself when he does. Williams’ shoulder injury happened when he lunged for a deep ball and came down hard on his shoulder. He did that a couple more times against the Bengals, which created some anxious moments.
“I try to land the correct way now but sometimes it don’t work out. I just try to make a football play,” Williams said.