Cincinnati Bengals: 3 Reasons they beat Browns in Week 4

Looking back at the Cincinnati Bengals’ Week 4 victory over the Cleveland Browns and determining why they were able to come away with the 31-7 win.

Finally. After a tough opening slate to the season, the Cincinnati Bengals were gifted with a visit from their division rival Cleveland Browns. Cincinnati used this opportunity to tally up their first victory of the season in dominant fashion.

At 1-3, they still have their work cut out for them to truly reemerge in the playoff race, but this was a necessary first step to having any shot at bringing those dreams to fruition. So how exactly did these previously flummoxed Bengals go from losing in deflating and excruciating fashion to blowing out an opponent like they did on Sunday?

Let’s take a look at the three

3. Kroft Steps Up

Going into this game, I placed the spotlight firmly on Kroft. With no Tyler Eifert due to yet another injury, Kroft would be center stage, and he definitely needed to step up his performance from what we’d seen out of him so far this season. Not only did he manage to morph himself into a significant positive for Cincinnati in this game, but he was the most statistically impactful member of Cincinnati’s receiving corps on the day.

Kroft finished the contest against the Browns leading Cincinnati outright in receptions (6), receiving yardage (68), and touchdown catches (2) while tying for the team lead in targets (7). Each of those numbers stands as his new career highs as well. Before this game, his bests were six targets, four receptions, 46 receiving yards (all 2015 vs Denver), and one touchdown (2015 vs San Francisco, his only previous score).

With Eifert still expected to miss a major chunk of time, having another tight end who can step up and play meaningful snaps is important for these Bengals. This sort of performance probably won’t be the norm for Kroft, but he’s proving capable of quality showings when the right situation and circumstances connect.

This week’s opponent (Buffalo) will be a much tougher matchup for the offense in general, but tight ends are one area their surprisingly sterling defense hasn’t stonewalled (as of this writing Buffalo is No. 21 in Defensive DVOA vs tight ends). Kroft may need to have another performance on this level to give his team a chance to win two-straight before their bye week.