The winless Cleveland Browns are ranked 31st in run defense, allowing 140.6 yards per game, which is still substantially less than the 271 the Bengals gashed them for in a 31-17 victory Oct. 23 at Paul Brown Stadium.
“The offensive line came out and they were locked in and ready to go from the first snap,” said running back Jeremy Hill, who ran for 168 yards on nine carries for his first 100-yard game since his rookie season of 2014.
“We just had big holes to run through. That was it,” Hill added. “Our offensive line just came to play that day.”
It usually does when the Browns are the opponent. In the last four games against Cleveland, the Bengals have averaged 202.8 rushing yards. The 271 they posted in October were the most since 1985 and the seventh-largest total in franchise history.
“I wish I could throw it in the trash can,” Cleveland coach Hue Jackson said with a laugh while referencing last game. “I can’t do that. It was a beat down. They beat us pretty soundly there in Cincinnati. We didn’t play as well as I thought we could.”
The Bengals aren’t sure exactly what to expect from the creative Jackson on Sunday, but they know stopping the run will be a key piece of the gameplan.
“Being around Hue the amount of time I was around him, I know he’s not going to allow somebody to do that to him multiple times,” Bengals running backs coach Kyle Caskey said. “He’s going to do everything he can to make sure that doesn’t happen again. He’s too good of a coach to allow that to happen to him.”
The Bengals haven’t come close to replicating that performance against anyone since, and have posted totals of 80, 64, 93 and 78 the last four games.
Part of the struggle can be attributed to the loss of A.J. Green two plays into the Buffalo game on Nov. 20. With Green out , opponents have been selling out to stop the run.
“With a guy like A.J., they’ve got to do a lot of things in coverage that make safeties, back end players make sure to know where he is to double him or get a guy over to help to his side,” left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “When you don’t have that, now the safety’s only looking in the backfield. If it’s run, he’s hauling butt downfield. So you’re just naturally going to get a ton of people in the box.”
Hill has been largely ineffective since Green’s departure, gaining 55 yards on his last 39 carries (1.4 average), with 25 of those carries going for two yards or less while six resulted in losses.
“Mental errors, penalties, scheme, them calling the right play against us, it’s been a little bit of everything,” Hill said of the reason for the recent slide. “We’ve just got to find a way to get it back going, get it back clicking no matter what that is, whatever we’ve got to do to fix it. The crazy part is, we’ve been practicing really well but it just hasn’t translated on game day. We’ve got to figure that out and get it going.”
While Hill has been bottled up, Rex Burkhead has thrived since sliding into the third-down role after Giovani Bernard tore his ACL. In the two games without Green and Bernard, Burkhead has carried 13 times for 67 yards (5.2).
“I’m not going to say (Hill) isn’t frustrated, because any running back that’s not running for the average that he wants to run for is going to be frustrated,” Caskey said. “But he does a good job of overcoming it. He’s come back to work just as hard this week. We’re just going to keep plugging along and try to get it going again.”
SUNDAY’S GAME
Cincinnati Bengals (4-7-1) at Cleveland Browns (0-12)
When: 1 p.m.
TV: Ch. 7, 12
Radio: 700-AM, 1290-AM, 1530-AM, 95.7-FM, 102.7-FM, 104.7-FM
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