Week 9 kicked off with the Battle of Ohio, as the Cleveland Browns faced off against the Cincinnati Bengals in an old-fashioned AFC North battle. The game played out pretty much as expected, with the Bengals winning handily, but there were a few surprises. We break down the whole game in our fantasy recap below.
Cleveland Browns at Cincinnati Bengals
Top performers:
» Johnny Manziel, QB: 168 pass yards, TD, 22 rush yards, 12.92 fantasy points
» Isaiah Crowell, RB: 64 total yards, 6.4 fantasy points
» Duke Johnson, RB: 38 rec yards, TD, 9.8 fantasy points
» Gary Barnidge, TE: 35 rec yards, 3.5 fantasy points
» Andy Dalton, QB: 234 pass yards, 3 TD, 21.86 fantasy points
» Jeremy Hill, RB: 52 rush yards, 5.2 fantasy points
» Giovani Bernard, RB: 86 total yards, 8.6 fantasy points
» A.J. Green, WR: 4 rec, 53 yards, 5.3 fantasy points
» Tyler Eifert, TE: 5 rec, 53 rec yards, 3 TDs, 23.3 fantasy points
Johnny Manziel kept the game interesting for the first half, but the second half belonged to the Bengals. Johnny Football looked OK on the night, but was inconsistent and likely won't hold onto the starting gig. Manziel tried to target Gary Barnidge, but the Bengals were all over him and the duo was not able to connect the way Josh McCown and Barnidge did the last few weeks. Isaiah Crowell looked decent running the football, but once the game script got away from the Browns, he disappeared. Robert Turbin was essentially a no show after two fumbles last week, hopefully clearing up this backfield a bit. Duke Johnson is one of the players in the NFL who needs to see more work. He's a dynamic playmaker in this offense and it's baffling why the Browns don't run more of their offense through him. He makes every one of of his touches count and deserves more than he is currently getting. The big story of the night was Tyler Eifert dropping a hat trick on the Browns' defense. They simply did not have an answer for him as he beat linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks all night long. As a result, A.J. Green had a quieter night with just 53 receiving yards, but he was still tied for team lead with six targets. He'll bounce back. Speaking of bouncing back, Andy Dalton did just that after posting his worst game of the year against Pittsburgh last week. He's back in our good graces as an every-week QB1. Heading into this game, everything seemed to point to a big outing from Jeremy Hill. Instead, we were treated to more of him tip-toeing behind the line, not trusting his blocks, and running with the tenacity of Bambi on ice. It might be time to reassess Hill's outlook for the rest of the year, as he was outplayed by Giovani Bernard for the eighth time this year (in eight games). The most painful indicator that the team doesn't trust Hill was that it was Giovani Bernard who was getting carries in the fourth quarter to salt away the lead -- and gaining big chunks of yardage. Moving forward, Bernard will be an every-week RB2/flex, while Hill will be a risky matchup-based play until we see him put it together. But after eight games, that might be wishful thinking.
