Predictions Summary Projections by Position Projection Team Boxes

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Prediction: CIN 13, CLE 24 (Line: CIN by 1)

UPDATE: Jermaine Gresham is likely to miss this week with a toe injury and will be a game time decision. Billy Cundiff was released and Garrett Hartley will take over the kicking job for the Browns.

This is a replay of week ten when the 7-6 Browns won 24-3 in Cincinnati over the 8-4-1 Bengals. And yet this may be the most watched game of the weekend because Johnny Manziel has been named the starter this week.

The Bengals may have already peaked. They have struggled against any decent opponent for the second half of the season. They already lost to the Browns at home. They barely beat the Buccaneers and just got waxed by the Steelers. But they remain a half game on top of the AFC North. The remaining schedule is going to be tough with this game on the road against a team that already beat them, then host the Broncos and end up on the road against the Steelers who just crushed them. Aside from some nice fantasy points from A.J. Green we have already seen the best of the Bengals.

QUARTERBACK : Andy Dalton was completely dominated in the first meeting with the Browns when he only completed 10 of 33 passed for 86 yards and three interceptions. He’s scored in every game since and even turned in multiple touchdowns in most but his yardage has been low all year unless facing a weak secondary.

RUNNING BACK : Giovani Bernard was out in week ten and Jeremy Hill still only managed 55 yards on 12 runs versus the Browns and had one catch for six yards. He lost his only fumble on the year as well. Hill has been the more productive rusher of the pair and Bernard’s been stuck below 50 yards since week six. The team is still committed to a rotation but Hill has consistently been the better back this year.

WIDE RECEIVER : A.J. Green comes off a monster game of 11 catches for 224 yards and one score. He’s been worth a touchdown or 100 yards or both in every game this year except one – versus the Browns when he was held to only 23 yards on three catches. Mohamed Sanu was held to only 20 yards on two receptions in that game. So far Joe Haden has been Green’s kryptonite.

TIGHT END : No fantasy value. Jermaine Gresham turned in three receptions for 29 yards in the last meeting with the Browns which is what he does in almost every week.

MATCH TO THE DEFENSE: The last meeting was just “one of those games” where the Bengals were never in it. The Browns allow a score to every quarterback this year other than Dalton. He’ll bounce back with a touchdown but no one has managed to throw for much yardage on them. There have been four 100 yard receivers in Cleveland but it depends on who Haden Covers and how well he does. The run should not be big here where the Browns have not allowed a running back touchdown in the last five home games and most end up with only moderate yardage – that gets split with Bernard back.

The switch has been made and Johnny Manziel gets the start after Brian Hoyer threw eight interceptions against just one touchdown over the last five games and the current two game losing streak has probably made it impossible for the Browns to reach the playoffs. This will be the final home game of the year and a good time to show what Manziel will or won’t do to the home town fans. And it gives him three games for a body of work to evaluate to see if he gets the nod in week one of 2015.

QUARTERBACK : No telling what to expect this week. Certainly Johnny Manziel brings in a better rushing ability and he ran for 88 yards in the preseason along with a ten yard touchdown scamper in week 13 in Buffalo when he led the team on a 80-yard drive. The biggest hope is not that Manziel will take off running much but that he can connect better with Josh Gordon since he has a better deep ball and faster release than Hoyer has.

RUNNING BACK : This is where the Browns won last time. Isaiah Crowell ran for 41 yards and a score on 12 carries and Terrance West also scored on his 26 runs for 94 yards. The two now share much more evenly and just last week Crowell (14-54, TD) was right in line with West (15-54). Having a running quarterback could help the rushing effort and prevent the defense from committing too much to the running back.

WIDE RECEIVER : Three weeks in and Josh Gordon still has not scored and only managed two catches for 15 yards last week on seven targets. He opened with 120 yards on eight receptions in week 12 in Atlanta and even had seven receptions for 75 yards in Buffalo. But last year’s #1 overall wide receiver returned to a new offensive scheme and playbook that some question how well he has learned. In any event, the switch to Manziel was as much about getting Gordon going as it was anything else.

Miles Austin is gone for the year and was the leading receiver in the previous matchup. He turned in five receptions for 48 yards while Taylor Gabriel (3-31) and Travis Benjamin (3-46) had even worse stats.

TIGHT END : Back in the first meeting, Gary Barnidge ended with 46 yards on two catches and Jordan Cameron was still out. But Cameron finally returned just last week and turned in four receptions for 41 yards on the Colts.

MATCH TO THE DEFENSE: The Bengals defense has been mostly good against the pass but five times allowed multiple passing scores and plenty of high yardage games. Having Manziel there throws a big unknown on the game. The most likely scenario is that the rushing effort works really well – both for the backs and Manziel who won’t need to throw that much to win this game. Hoyer already won this the same way and he doesn’t run and was not at home.

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