CINCINNATI — Someone brought this up to me in a conversation yesterday: the trios of Joe Mixon/A.J. Green/Tyler Boyd of the Bengals and Nick Chubb/Odell Beckham Jr./Jarvis Landry are extremely close in talent. I totally agree.
Tonight’s Battle of Ohio features those respective trios in addition to two former No. 1 overall draft picks in Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield. There will be a lot of talent on the field, which adds to the already crucial level that this game presents. Green hasn’t played a prime time game since week seven of the 2018 season, and he’s only played two games overall since then. But ever since week 16 on Monday Night Football at Denver, the 10-year veteran has shown up to ball under the bright lights. He’s kind of been forgotten, but his presence gives the talent on the field tonight another cast member.
But with all this talent on the field, it all comes down to how the individual talents are coached to mesh together as a team to put the team in a position to win. And that’s what this game comes down to: which head coach, the Bengals Zac Taylor and the Browns Kevin Stefanski, can coach his team the best tonight. These are two young, unproven head coaches who each have an opportunity to break through tonight.
Let’s look at both team’s talented trios and their numbers from 2019 and from week one this season, and how, I think, they should be utilized.
Cleveland
Nick Chubb: 2019 (298 carries for 1,468 yards and eight touchdowns); 2020 week one (10 carries for 60 yard)
Odell Beckham Jr.: 2019 (74 receptions for 1,038 yards and four touchdowns); 2020 week one (three receptions for 22 yards)
Jarvis Landry: 2019 (83 receptions for 1,174 yards and six touchdowns); 2020 week one (5 receptions for 61 yards)
Chubb may be the third-best running back in the NFL, but he is under-utilized. Had he been given more carries, he could have won the rushing title in 2019. But Freddie Kitchens and Todd Monken didn’t give him the ball nearly enough for him to accomplish that. Eight times he had fewer than 20 carries, which is concerning because he had seven 100-yard games. Compare Chubb to Derrick Henry, who ended up taking the rushing title by carrying the ball 26, 18, 21 and 32 times in each of his last four regular-season games. Mike Vrabel and Titans offensive coordinator know Derrick Henry is their best offensive player, so they give him a large number of carries. What a concept: catering to players’ strengths. Chubb’s last four games in 2019: 15, 17, 15 and 13 carries. And he’s the Browns’ best player, right? His first carry on Sunday was a draw up the left guard for a first down. He had nine carries the rest of the game. NINE. Ten carries for 60 yards was his stat line. And Kevin Stefanski coached Dalvin Cook last year when he was with the Vikings. Does he realize that? Browns fans sure hope so.
When it comes to the receivers, Beckham is the more prolific between him and Landry. That said, if Stefanski calls Beckham an “unbelievable talent” and then the seven-year star goes out and hauls in three receptions on 10 targets, is that really all that unbelievable? At one point last year, he went eight straight games without a touchdown. EIGHT. It’s also worth noting that he didn’t have ONE GAME with double-digit receptions last season. I thought Beckham was supposedly a superstar receiver?
Landry is about the only player either living up to his potential or being utilized the way he should be. He had five receptions on six targets, which is really good. He’s a great No. 2 wide receiver, and is being utilized as such, maybe too much.
There is so much talent on this Browns roster, but it takes coaching to mesh it together. Freddie Kitchens said leading up to the 2019 season that the Browns were just a bunch of really good individual players. He wasn’t able to mesh them together. That’s now the challenge for Stefanski.
Cincinnati
Joe Mixon: 2019 (278 carries for 1,137 yards and five touchdowns); 2020 week one (19 carries for 66 yards)
A.J. Green: 2017 stats, as that was the last time he played a full season (75 receptions for 1,078 yards and eight touchdowns); 2020 week one (five receptions for 51 yards)
Tyler Boyd: 2019 (90 receptions for 1,046 yards and five touchdowns); 2020 week one (four receptions for 39 yards)
I’ll say Joe Mixon is the key on offense to every Bengals game because he is. The Bengals go as he goes. Look at his last eight games in 2019, when he was one of the best running backs, statistically, in the NFL. And talk about getting carries: he had at least 21 in five of his last eight games including each of his last four. That said, after carrying the ball 15 times through the first three quarters Sunday, Mixon only had four the rest of the game. That 3rd-&-2 late in the third quarter with the Bengals on the Chargers 25-yard line; run Mixon in that situation. He already had six carries on that drive. Chances are, I think, he picks up the first down and that keeps the clock moving into the fourth quarter and tires out the defense. Zac Taylor has to know that situation and know how good and valuable Mixon is.
I’m not worried about how A.J. Green and Tyler Boyd are used as much as I am about Mixon. Green and Boyd get their targets. My hope is Boyd is targeted a little bit more early in the game tonight as I am anxious to see just how good his connection is with Joe Burrow.
If I were a general manager and had to pick which trio to have on my team, I would choose the Browns, albeit slightly. But all that talent on the Browns will mean nothing if they aren’t coached to get it to mesh together. Zac Taylor hasn’t proven much in his first 17 games as the Bengals head coach, but after watching the Browns in week one I feel like I’ve seen this movie before. And let me tell you, listening to Cleveland sports talk radio tomorrow will be a beautiful thing.
My pick: Bengals 23 Browns 14
Let me be Frank and Cut to the Chase 