Thrash Browns

The ‘Battle of Ohio’ turned into a surprising one-sided contest as the Browns outplayed favored Cincinnati on every front with a 24-3 victory that knocked the Bengals out of first place and ended their streak of 14 straight wins at home.

Dalton and the Bengals offense looked to be stuck in the mud as they continue to be plagued by prime-time implosions. They came out in the first half and committed two turnovers, two holding calls  and were roundly booed by the sellout crowd.

Dalton missed 18 of his first 25 passes and that included an interception on the first series that set up the Browns’ first touchdown and two interceptions in the fourth quarter. One was thrown inaccurately to wide receiver Greg Little and the other was a contested deep ball that cornerback Buster Skrine ripped away from rookie wide receiver James Wright.

The final pick came with seven minutes left in the game and at that point the Browns had 340 yards to the Bengals’ 158 while the crowd chanted the name of the Browns quarterback. “Brian Hoyer. Brian Hoyer.”

Hoyer led the 6-3 Browns to their first road division victory since Derek Anderson topped Ryan Fitzpatrick in September 2008 and has put his upstart team in a tie for first place with the Steelers.

It was as unsteady as Dalton has ever looked. He finished with career lows in passer rating (2.0), completion percentage (10-33), and passing yards (86) for an entire game. With five minutes left in the game, Dalton went to the bench, as did wide receiver A.J. Green, with three catches for 23 yards. Rookie running back Jeremy Hill, the 154-yard rusher of four days ago, had 55 yards on 12 carries.

The Bengals had no answers as both lines got pushed all the way back up I-71 by a Cleveland team that couldn’t run the ball or stop the run in the previous three games and they did it all against Cincinnati.

After averaging 1.9 yards per carry while never gaining 70 yards in any of the three previous games, the Browns pounded the Bengals for 170 yards on 52 carries.

On the first series of the second half Dalton was sacked on back-to-back plays by defensive lineman Desmond Bryant, the first one working against right tackle Marshall Newhouse playing in place of the injured Andre Smith, and the second one came up the middle.

It didn’t get much better on the next series. They did break an 0-for-9 drought on third down (they were 3-for-17 for the game), but Dalton had two passes tipped at the line of scrimmage and Green, stalked by nemesis cornerback Joe Haden, dropped two passes in the drive.

The two series summed up what turned out to be the third woeful outing in a month, starting with the 43-17 loss in New England Oct. 6 and the 27-0 loss Oct. 19 in Indianapolis.

Meanwhile, Hoyer staked his club to a 24-3 lead midway through third quarter with methodical efficiency. He corked off a 10-play drive in which the biggest play was a 28-yard pass to his backup tight end Gary Bainbridge off play-action that he dropped over safety Reggie Nelson at the Bengals 3. Running back Terrance West scored from one yard out to make it 24-3 with 4:46 left in the third quarter.

Hoyer finished with a 92.3 passer rating on 15 of 23 for 198 yards and he did it without any of his playmaking receivers. His Pro Bowl tight end, Jordan Cameron had a concussion, his leading wide receiver, Andrew Hawkins, was inactive with injuries, and his Pro Bowl wide receiver, Josh Gordon, is suspended.

At the end of the first quarter, Bengals vice president Katie Blackburn presented a check for more than $1.3 million to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with Leah Still looking on and waving to a cheering crowd. The daughter of Bengals defensive lineman Devon Still, four-year-old Leah has become the national face of pediatric cancer and the check is the result of supporters buying Still’s jersey at the Bengals Pro Shop.