Joe Burrow lays out the game plan for Bengals to beat Browns in Week 7

Cincinnati Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow has a career 1-5 record against the Cleveland Browns, and he's never recorded a win in Cleveland in his entire career. Neither has Bengals head coach Zac Taylor. In order to change that in Week 7 of the 2024 NFL season, Burrow sees two main keys for Cincinnati and he laid out the game plan for how the Bengals can walk away with a win.

Burrow wants to see the Bengals pound the rock

The first key is a productive ground game. The rushing attack hasn't necessarily been a strong point of the Bengals so far this season, and it also hasn't been much of a priority.

To this point, the Bengals are near the bottom of the league in rushing attempts per game with 22.0. Only the Seattle Seahawks, Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars are averaging fewer ground attempts per performance. While Burrow has been getting it done through the air, he sees potential for a productive ground game in Cleveland.

"I think we’ll be able to run the ball well on Sunday. I like the run game plan," Burrow said. "We’ll see how it plays out. We’ll be ready to drop back 50 times if we need to just like always, but be nice to have a big time game on the ground."

The Browns have been giving up over 137 yards per game on the ground, so the Bengals should have the opportunity to do some damage out of the backfield, as long as they commit to it. Chase Brown is averaging over 5.5 yards per carry. With a few more touches, he could be in line for a big game against the Browns.

Burrow thinks a fast start is vital for Cincinnati

Burrow also thinks that getting out to a fast start against the Browns is paramount to success for Cincinnati, especially since it has been the Browns who have jumped out to early leads over the Bengals in recent meetings.

"If we can get out on them early it makes them play the game a different way then they have against us the last several years," Burrow said. "We’ll play the game however it ends up playing out and we’ll be ready for it. Just like every week you want to get off to a fast start."

Cincinnati hasn't been getting off to especially fast starts so far this season. They're averaging just 4.0 first quarter points per game, which is 20th league-wide. They failed to score any points in the first quarter twice this season -- in Week 1 against the Patriots and in Week 5 against the Ravens. It's probably not a coincidence that they lost both of those games. No wonder Burrow wants to get off to a quick start.

If the Bengals are able to do both of the things Burrow emphasized -- get off to a fast start and find success in the ground game -- they should be able to secure their first win in Cleveland since 2017.