AFC North: Recapping more wild outcomes in Week 10

by Christina "Tina" Rivers (3Rivers_Writer) on November 13, 2018

Week 10 of the 2018 NFL regular season is over and it was yet another crazy week across the league, but especially in the AFC North. The division has been something of a roller-coaster ride as the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and Baltimore Ravens have all seen bad weeks and then found redemption in others. Baltimore had a bye that may just have come at a perfect time for their team. Meanwhile, the Steelers blew out the Carolina Panthers as the Bengals fell flat against the New Orleans Saints, and the Cleveland Browns shocked the Atlanta Falcons.

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Cleveland Browns, 28 – Atlanta Falcons, 16

Mayfield shines as Browns feed Johnson, Chubb in upset

Baker Mayfield may be the guy most people are focused on when it comes to Cleveland’s season in 2018, but on Sunday, against the Falcons, it was the play of Duke Johnson Jr. and Nick Chubb that set up the big upset of an Atlanta team that has come apart in 2018.

In the first six games of the season, the running back duo combined for just 49 total carries. With Freddie Kitchens in as the offensive coordinator, Johnson and Chubb have suddenly become a focal point, combining for 63 carries, 431 yards and six touchdowns in two weeks. On Sunday, the pair were able to amass 255 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a combined effort. One of the touchdowns scored by Chubb went for a franchise-record 92 yards. Pro Football Focus gave Chubb and Johnson grades of 80.5 and 71.4 for their efforts overall, a fifth- and tenth-place ranking among all NFL running backs across the league with 15-plus offensive snaps in Week 10. Chubb leads all NFL running backs who have 50-plus carries in forced missed tackles per carry (0.27) and yards after contact per carry (5.3)

The two rookies, Mayfield and Chubb, finally demonstrated their potential – and the reason they were the top two picks for Cleveland in the 2018 NFL Draft. Mayfield exited the first half of the game with Atlanta with a perfect passer rating. He finished the game completing 17-of-20 passes for 216 yards and became the second quarterback in Browns franchise history in the Super Bowl era (behind Vinny Testaverde, 1993) to complete 85 percent of his passes (with at least 20 attempts). Chubb broke Hall of Famer Bobby Mitchell‘s longest run (90 yards in 1959) while speeding into the end zone after 92 yards of leg-pumping to set the longest run by a rookie in NFL history. With touchdown runs of 92, 63, and 41 yards this season, Chubb has become the first NFL player since Doug Martin (2012) with at least three rushing touchdowns of 40 or more yards in the first 10 games of a single season.

92.
Yards.
To.
The.
House.#ATLvsCLE https://t.co/O4hCSxzwiV

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) November 11, 2018

Yes, the Browns are now 3-6-1. There is still plenty of room for improvement. And this season may not be “the season”… but, it’s looking better. Cleveland just played arguably the best game of the past two seasons with Gregg Williams as interim head coach. Additionally, Williams has now tied Jackson in wins; Williams did it in two games to Jackson’s first two seasons in Cleveland. Ouch.

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Bizarre News

AFC North fans are all well aware that Jackson is out of Cleveland. In a strange twist, however, it seems Hue is going to remain in the division (and not at the unemployment office as many disgruntled fans desired).

Sources: Former #Browns coach Hue Jackson is slated to be in Cincinnati imminently to join the staff of #Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. The title is not yet clear.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 13, 2018

Jackson has been added to the Bengals coaching staff and will begin his third stint under Marvin Lewis. From 2004-06, Jackson coached Cincinnati wide receivers. After coaching the Oakland Raiders (one season), Jackson returned to Cincinnati in 2012 as an assistant special teams coach and assistant secondary coach. In 2013, he became the running backs coach and special assistant to the head coach; he was then offensive coordinator from 2014-15 before heading to Cleveland.

No official title has been announced as of the writing of this article, but Twitter has been abuzz over news of Jackson rejoining Lewis. And there are plenty of questions about whether Lewis has or has not lost his mind – or crazy as a fox.

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Cincinnati Bengals, 14 – New Orleans Saints, 51

Brees too much for Bengals’ ailing defense

On Sunday, the Bengals were dismantled about as effectively as the fire alarms inside Paul Brown Stadium by Saints head coach Sean Payton. Payton said, “I will confirm I destroyed a fire alarm before the game… I just needed the noise to stop and will gladly take care of the repair costs.” Allegedly, the alarm had been going off for 10 minutes (within 20 minutes of the opening kickoff). Payton can do nothing about repairing the damage his team did to the Bengals on the field, however.

Scoring on nine-of-nine possessions to start off the rout, the Saints offense took advantage of miscues and personnel changes made by the Bengals due to injuries. They were able to end their first five offensive drives with touchdowns to take a 35-7 lead at halftime.

Marvin Lewis met with his team before he met with the media on Monday. It made him ten minutes late to the press conference and he was asked if he thought his players bought into the changes – including the firing of Teryl Austin (defensive coordinator). “As I told the entire building, we had to make a change,” Lewis said. “The first thing you do is change coaches and the next thing you do is change players… We have the opportunity to right our ship, play better on defense, be supportive of the offense and do our jobs on defense, and that’s to get the ball back for the offense without the other team scoring and as quick as possible.”

With a laundry list of injured players on their defense, the Bengals allowed 311 yards of offense to the Saints as Drew Brees completed 18-of-20 passes; his longest tosses going to running back Mark Ingram. New Orleans also won the time of possession game by controlling the ball for 19:33 minutes and Alvin Kamara ground out 56 yards on 12 carries for two touchdowns. Linebacker Jordan Evans, staring for injured Vontaze Burfict, fell when he was covering Ingram – Ingram took advantage. Just minutes later, middle linebacker Preston Brown was burned by Ingram. Safeties Jessie Bates and Shawn Williams could not make the play over the top. Overall, it was an ugly performance.

Bengals running back Joe Mixon was able to gain 35 yards in his first four carries, including a great run behind offensive tackle Cordy Glenn, against the No. 1 rush defense in New Orleans. He finished the game with 61 yards on 11 carries but could not find the end zone.

John Ross had a nice touchdown out of the slot receiver position from Andy Dalton when he burned Saints cornerback Eli Apple off the line of scrimmage. In six targets, however, Ross only caught two passes for 39 yards and the touchdown.

With so little time of possession, Dalton completed just 12-of-20 pass attempts for 153 yards and a touchdown to two interceptions. He was sacked four times on the day.

“The game started out like an NFL football game. The Saints scored on a 15-play drive, and we came back and answered on an eight-play drive,” Lewis said Monday. “But from that point on, we have to stay in rhythm and we have to play.”

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Division Wrap-Up

With the Steelers dismantling the Panthers on Sunday, they move into even better position at No. 1 in the division. They’ve beaten each of their rivals at least once this season, holding key cards when it comes to a playoff race. With the Browns taking their bye in Week 11, it will be interesting to see how Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Baltimore handle their upcoming opponents and challenges.