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Here it is fans. The first of a pair of games we wait for each year. Win and you get to lord it over your friends, family, and co-workers. Lose and you get another shot later in the season.
Despite the teams being nearly identical record-wise, they feel like they're going in opposite directions. Cincy figured out their defense last week and won while scoring only seventeen points in Met Life Stadium against the Giants while the Browns are. . . The Browns.
Bengals (2-4) @ Browns (1-5)
Kickoff - 1p CBS
Line - Bengals -5.5 O/u 41.5
Series - Bengals lead 53-48
Last meeting - Bengals 31-14 on January 7, 2024 in Cincinnati, OH
CHUBBY TIME!
After a devastating knee injury in Week 2 against the Steelers last season, Nick Chubb is off the Injured list and is expected to make his season debut on Sunday. This comes just in time as Jerome Ford and Nyheim Hines are expected to miss Sunday's game.
“I respect him so much as a person and a player and what it means to play football,” left guard Joel Bitoni said. "You do it for the guys around you, you do it for your teammates and he puts it on the line."
His return has obviously energized his teammates who are looking for a spark to turn around what has, to this point, been an underwhelming season.
How much longer?
Well? Only Browns HC Kevin Stefanski can answer that question; as in how much longer can the Browns continue to run out Deshaun Watson every week before things completely fall apart.
While some in the fanbase are ready to see if Jameis Winston can make some chicken salad out of this chicken $**t season, there are others that believe that Stefanski is being told by the ?front office?, ?owners? to keep playing Watson for reasons that aren't too hard to figure out. If you want to get out from under that ridiculous contract, find a team with a ton of cap space, offer them your first round (first OVERALL??) pick and let them cut Watson. Then you play out the 2025 season with Jameis or DTR under center (DTR might be better for this plan) and earn that first overall pick for 2026. Who is that, you ask? Why, one Arch Manning, nephew of Peyton and Eli, grandson of Archie, and the new savior of Cleveland.
That is, if you buy into conspiracy theories.
If not, they're just letting Watson play through a slump. . .a bad one, possibly historic. It's not like he's getting a ton of help though. Through six games, Watson has been sacked 31 times, call it 5 times a game, at that pace he's going to smash the NFL record for number of times being sacked in a season, a record currently held by David Carr who was sacked 76 times in 2002 playing for? Ta DA! The Houston Texans. Most of that is on the atrocious line play, and the spit-and-baling-wire makeup of it.
The skill positions haven't exactly been lighting things up either with the recently-traded Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy running neck-and-neck despite the former having almost 50% more targets and neither of them producing big numbers. David Njoku has only played in half the team's games this season and been targeted minimally. Hopefully Nick Chubb returning sparks the run game which has been productive considering who is running the ball.
Tick tock, Cleveland, tick tock.
Bits and Baubles
Bengals - The Bengals are 3-5 in their last ten (with two bye weeks) Week 7 matchups but have won their last two in 2022 and 2021; they are also 1-1 in their last two Week 7 matchups against the Browns. Since 2015 the Bengals are 18-7 straight up as road favorites (8th best in the NFL in that span by %) and 17-7-1 ATS (best in the NFL). Joe Burrow is 0-3 in his career on the road against the Browns.
Browns - Prior to their return to the NFL (1999), the Browns had selected first overall only once (1954-Bobby Garrett of Stanford); since 1999, they have selected first overall four times and twice in back-to-back years-1999 and 2000 as well as 2017 and 2018.
Injury Report
Bengals
DJ Ivey - CB - Returning from IR (Knee)
Browns
Ronnie Hickman - S - OUT (Ankle)
Nyheim Hines - RB - OUT (Knee)
Jerome Ford - RB - OUT (Hamstring)
Nick Harris - C - OUT-IR
Ethan Pocic - C - Questionable (Undisclosed)
Jordan Hicks - LB - Questionable (Elbow/Triceps)
Fantasy Advice
Temper expectations for Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins this week, Cleveland's secondary is good and mostly healthy, they should both be starting regardless. Mike Gesicki might be a good streaming option this week if he's available and Andrei Iosivas is in the same boat, he's the third-most targeted Bengal this season. I'm iffy on is the Bengals D/ST should be a streaming option as well, the Browns offense has been awful this season, and the Bengals looked like they might be figuring it out on defense watching the Sunday night game last week, so use you own "best" judgement.
Don't expect Nick Chubb to come back and run for 150 yards and two tuddys, more likely it's going to be 5-9 carries and see how things go, getting him ready for the rest of the season. If you're still determined to start a Browns receiver, I guess Jerry Jeudy, David Njoku, and Elijah Moore are all due a bump in target share with Amari Cooper gone to Buffalo.
Prediction
Bengals 21-13
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