Thursday Night Football was surprisingly watchable this week with both the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals making things entertaining. That being said, there were plenty of mistakes and neither of these teams look to be anywhere close to making the playoffs this season.
Of course, that doesn’t matter when it comes to fantasy. We just need the players to make it to week 16. Or week 17 if you play in a really stupid league. With 14 weeks left, let’s jump into the fantasy football takeaways from the Browns vs. Bengals that should help you as the season progresses.
Related: 5 players you can drop right now
Fantasy football takeaways from the Browns vs. Bengals
The Browns show some juice
For the first time in two seasons, Cleveland looked like it had a competent offense. Nick Chubb was dominate, Baker Mayfield managed the game well and there was even an Odell Beckham Jr. sighting. It was certainly better than last week’s disaster against the Ravens.
And that will probably be the story all year with the Browns. They can put up points against bad and average defenses but struggle against good ones. It’s not ideal. However, Chubb and Beckham Jr. should be able to have respectable seasons in 2020. Meanwhile, Mayfield looks to have morphed into the second coming of Kirk Cousins which is not exciting in the slightest.
CJ Uzomah > Austin Hooper
There is nothing exciting about CJ Uzomah’s game, but Joe Burrow likes throwing his way. He added another four catches, 42 yards and a touchdown to his four catch, 45 yard performance in week 1. Uzoma did leave the game with an injury.
On the other side of the field was Austin Hooper, a tight end many people drafted with high hopes after a big season in Atlanta. For whatever reason, he just isn’t involved in the Browns offense. David Njoku outplayed him last week and Hooper only had two catches tonight.
Bengals O-Line holding everyone back
Joe Burrow is able to make plays when he has time despite being a rookie. Joe Mixon is one of the best running backs in the NFL when he gets some serviceable blocking. Unfortunately, the Bengals offensive line isn’t doing a good job meaning both players have struggled. Burrow is constantly under pressure while Mixon is harassed the minute he gets the ball. It seems unlikely that the situation will improve which limits the upside of Bengals’ players in 2020.
