Browns bye week begins with players basking in glory of victory over Bengals: 'It was big'

CLEVELAND ― Injured tight end David Njoku served as the pregame deejay for the Browns while they geared up for a pivotal prime-time game on “Monday Night Football.”

And after they had defeated the AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals 32-13 on Halloween, left guard Joel Bitonio told Njoku the Browns need more of the music he used to invigorate them prior to kickoff.

“He wasn't playing today,” Bitonio said of Njoku, who's sidelined with a high ankle sprain. “He just made sure everybody had great energy in the locker room, playing some music.

“He brought the energy today, so we've got to keep it rolling. [They weren't] songs that I know, but songs the rest of the locker room knew, so we got excited about that.”

Myles Garrett had his own playlist. The All-Pro defensive end sang along to Michael Jackson's “Thriller” while dressing at his locker.

The Browns (3-5) were basking in the glory of their upset victory over the defending AFC champion Bengals (4-4) at FirstEnergy Stadium.

Who could blame them for soaking it in? After all, the rest of October had been miserable, and they snapped a four-game losing streak with their backs against the wall. Another loss would have buried their flickering playoff hopes.

“It was big,” Bitonio told the Beacon Journal. “We've been saying for the last few weeks, 'We've to find a way to get one win, get off the schneid a little bit.' It came with a team effort. We played really good as a team. The defense really held us up in the first half, and we got rolling in the second half [on offense] ― a lot of big performances.

“But it was big just to get that win. We're still a little bit behind the eight ball, obviously, but hopefully we can turn one [win] into two and really keep the momentum going.”

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The victory felt even more important to Browns players because they will enter their Week 9 bye on a positive note. They won't play again until they visit the Miami Dolphins on Nov. 13.

“It was a real big win, especially going into the bye week,” said rookie wide receiver David Bell, who had two catches on two targets for 27 yards. “We can go in with a clear head and focus on our opponent, but also get our bodies right and get our mental right and just come back refreshed.

“We were on a four-game losing streak, so five would have been real bad. Being able to snap that and go out there and put on a dominant performance in every phase ― special teams, offense, defense ― you could just see it was a collective team win. We had a great week of practice, and it showed. We got it done tonight.”

They accomplished the mission with true complementary football.

Cleveland Browns defense shuts out Cincinnati Bengals and Joe Burrow for three quarters

A defense that had struggled mightily during stretches early in the season turned in its second consecutive impressive performance and shut out Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Co. until the fourth quarter.

“It was crucial,” said cornerback Greg Newsome II, who had three tackles. “When you're on a losing streak like that, any win is gonna be big for us, and to get one on Monday night is gonna be great for us going into the bye week being able to watch that film, see the positives. We're gonna go into the week after that and hopefully continue what we did today.”

The Browns sacked Burrow five times. Linebacker Sione Takitaki strip-sacked Burrow, and defensive tackle Tommy Togiai recovered the fumble with 3:25 left in the second quarter. Cornerback A.J. Green intercepted a Burrow pass on the game's opening series after Garrett deflected the ball near the line of scrimmage.

“[The defensive front seven] played amazing. Shout out to them,” Newsome said. “It makes our job in the secondary so much easier when those guys are getting home. But you've also gotta shout out [defensive coordinator] Joe Woods putting together a great game plan for them, with the stunts up front, having eyes on the quarterback, allowing us go out there and play fast. I feel like he called an amazing game and, obviously, the front seven did a great job today, too.”

Jacoby Brissett's strong outing paid off for Cleveland Browns

The offense received another stellar effort from backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett and scored three second-half touchdowns against a Bengals defense that had not previously allowed a second-half TD this season.

“That's something that we expect from them every week,” Newsome said. “We got the best running back in the whole NFL. We got the best receiver in the NFL, and we got a quarterback who's doing amazing right now as well.”

Brissett went 17-of-22 passing for 278 yards and a touchdown without an interception for a rating of 133.7.

“He's been money in these [games],” Bitonio said. “He's tough. He's accountable. He plays the way you want a quarterback to play.

“He made some big-time throws today and really did a good job leading us down the field a few times. We ran the ball well, but there were some big chunk plays in the passing game that really helped us today.”

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Receiver Amari Cooper had five catches on seven targets for a game-high 131 yards and a touchdown.

And running back Nick Chubb rushed 23 times for 101 yards (4.4 average) and two touchdowns. He had the first score of the game when he took a direct snap and rushed for a 3-yard touchdown with 5:04 left in the second quarter. Bitonio revealed the Browns installed the play last week for Chubb, the NFL's leading rusher this season with 841 yards on the ground.

“Typical Chubb,” Bitonio said. “He just runs his heart out, finds the holes when they're not huge, makes big plays for us. He's just a great teammate man, and he deserves all the success he gets.”

Now the Browns need to keep putting it all together.

Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns soak in 'crucial' win over Bengals: 'It was big'