Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns in pivotal Week 12 matchups
COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) – The Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns, each with new quarterbacks to lead their teams into December, face pivotal tests in Week 12. Here are the keys to this weekend’s games.
Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4) at Cincinnati Bengals (5-5)Sunday, Nov. 26 at Paycor Stadium, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Ride the hot hand: Jake Browning will handle all the snaps moving forward for the Bengals, who lost QB Joe Burrow for the remainder of the season after he hurt his wrist in last week’s lost to Baltimore. Browning’s best shot of easing into a brutal AFC North matchup is to lean on the Bengals’ best weapon of late – RB Joe Mixon.
Mixon has scored in four consecutive games and twice gained 100 or more total yards during that span. True, Mixon’s performance also coincided with Burrow’s October surge after he fully recovered from his calf injury, so the Bengals cannot afford to be one dimensional. But the Steelers do offer some give against the run, ranking in the bottom third of the league at 127.7 yards allowed per game. Establishing Mixon early to take some heat off Browning will help the Bengals outlast the Steelers in a potentially low-scoring affair.
Go big or go home: That said, playing it safe isn’t necessarily a good, long-term solution. In last week’s game between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers, the Browns did not attempt a pass longer than 15 yards. The Steelers defense sat on the short aerial attack in the second half and nearly completed a 10-point comeback. Browning will need to test Pittsburgh’s secondary at some point to soften up the middle of the field.
Browning, who joined the Bengals in 2021, may be making his first career start, but he’s quite familiar with the playbook and the team still has one of the best trio of receivers in the league, although Tee Higgins remains questionable with a hamstring injury. The Steelers defense also ranks in the bottom third in passing yards allowed (239.9). Splash plays downfield will be necessary in accumulating red-zone opportunities against a Steelers defense that, while flexible, leads the league in turnover ratio (+11).
: Steelers 1 1⁄2. O/U: 35 1⁄2.
: The Steelers, amid an offensive coordinator change, lean on their run game, a Cincinnati defensive liability, to eke out a 20-17 victory.
Cleveland Browns (7-3) at Denver Broncos (5-5)Sunday, Nov. 26 at Empower Field at Mile High, 4:05 p.m. (FOX)
Strength vs. weakness: The Denver Broncos own the worst run defense in the league and it’s not even close. Allowing 160 rushing yards a game is one of many reasons why the team started 1-5 this year. Despite its four-game winning streak, that trend has not improved much at all. After slowing down the Packers and Chiefs twice (98.3 yards allowed per game), the Broncos were gashed by the Bills and Vikings for 197 and 157 yards in the most recent two weeks.
Amazingly enough Denver has only yielded 17.4 points per game over those last five games, producing 14 turnovers. Nevertheless, the Browns could and should march down the field with Jerome Ford and Kareem Hunt, who have helped keep the Browns rushing attack third best in the league at 142.7 yards per game.
Raise the bar: Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who took over for the injured Deshaun Watson, benefits from whatever the Browns suffocating defense provides, namely field position thanks in large part to its pass rush. But DTR also benefitted from playing opposite one of the worst offensive performances to date this season, with the Steelers gaining just 249 total yards of offense. The Browns, of course, had only 259 with Thompson-Robinson throwing for 165 yards and an interception . Winning on that formula isn’t sustainable moving forward unless the offense shows signs of growth.
Cleveland leads the league with over 34 rushing attempts per game, but DTR will need to average more than last week’s 3.8 yards per pass attempt to make an impact in this game. He at least will likely have more time in the pocket as the Broncos are 30th in the league with just 17 sacks this season. It will also help if the Browns’ receivers drop fewer than the six passes they did last week against the Steelers.
: Broncos 1 1⁄2. O/U: 36 1⁄2.
: Broncos extend their four-game winning streak in ugly fashion, 19-13.
