Cincinnati Bengals at Cleveland Browns
Location: FirstEnergy Stadium (Cleveland, OH)
Date: Sunday, December 14, 2014
Game Time: 1:00pm ET
Weather: Cleveland should provide some cold, dreary weather for tomorrow’s game. It looks to be cloudy and about 42 degrees. With only a 15% chance of rain, the game shouldn’t get wet and muddy. For the kickers, there’ll be an W 11 mph wind, so it shouldn’t impact things terribly, but is something to take into consideration.
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TV: The game will actually be televised on your local FOX station. The announcing will be handled by Kevin Burkhardt (play-by-play) and John Lynch (analysis). Pam Oliver will be handling the sideline reporting. If you don’t live in the Cincinnati area, here is the broadcast map of this week’s actions.
Local Radio: The game will be broadcasted on Cincinnati’s WCKY-AM (ESPN 1530), WEBN-FM (102.7), and WLW-AM (700). Dan Hoard (play-by-play) and former Cincinnati Bengals’ offensive lineman Dave Lapham (analyst) will be the announcers. Bengals.com has also provided a list of other radio broadcasts in the local area.
Streaming and Listening Online: The game can be viewed through the NFL’s Game Rewind once the game has concluded. The NFL network also offers its Audio Pass for online listening.
Predictions from the Staff
Dave Petrocelli
My initial instinct is to pick the Browns in a decisive win considering what they did to the Bengals when facing them in Cincinnati. But the Bengals have been confounding all year, so I’m going to guess they continue in this fashion. The Bengals will play a much more competitive game while the Browns try to adjust to having rookie Johnny Manziel at the helm. If they are able to apply pressure to Manziel, then they could force him into some ill-advised throws. But first the Bengals will need to limit the Browns on the ground. The Bengals will also have the challenge of handling both Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron; neither played in the first game.
The Bengals will need to run the ball much more effectively than they did the first time around. Frankly, the offense as a whole needs to function as they were completely shut down in Week 10. Giovani Bernard‘s presence will help as the Bengals were missing him in the previous game.
In the end, this will be a highly competitive game. The Browns defense plays well, but the offense struggles with how to incorporate Johnny Manziel‘s elusive style. I see it coming down to the final possession where the Bengals confound once more and pull out a huge win.
Bengals 20 – Browns 17
Tyler Mercurio
The Bengals should win this game. Why? Is is my overwhelming confidence that this team handles adversity well? Absolutely not.
The only reason why is because of Johnny Manziel. What is worse? Fear of the unknown, or fear of the known? On one side you can play Brian Hoyer who has had a rough couple starts; however, Hoyer had never lost to the Bengals.
Then there is the unknown. The most knowledge anyone has in this kid is found in YouTube highlight videos.
Without anything more than a gut feeling, I think the Bengals should win this week. I have no evidence or support to back it up. Merely just a feeling in my gut that says, “why not? The whole season has been a WonderBall anyway”.
Bengals 20 – Browns 17
Dustin Meritt
This team just lacks physical presence and the one hope for it just went on IR this week. The Browns slaughtered the Bengals in Cincinnati without Manziel, Gordon, Cameron, and Hawkins, who are all playing this week, so what should we expect? For me, it’s another killing and I can’t help but feel like this will be the game where the Browns put the Bengals away for the season and possibly for a couple years. The wheels are wobbly and ready to come off in the Nati.
Bengals 13 – Browns 32
Brian Dugan
This Week 14 matchup comes down to one position, running back. With all of the hype regarding Johnny Manziel and the spark he could bring to the Cleveland Browns, the truth is, if the Browns can’t run the ball, then they won’t beat the Bengals. Manziel doesn’t have enough experience to just wing it all over the field on this defense. Plus, comparatively, Manziel isn’t all that fast. Carlos Dunlap and the Bengals’ linebacking core can easily run him down. The Bengals won’t lose to the Browns, they can’t. The Bengals are playing for their playoff lives, and frankly play a little better on the road as of late. Look for Johnny Football to have some success, but fizz out in front of his home fans. Bengals win this one, handily.
Bengals 20 – Browns 10