BEREA, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns defense got off to a strong start to the season by limiting the high-powered Bengals to just a total of 141 yards and 17 points. After one week, the Browns defense ranks tied for No. 1 in the NFL in rushing defense (46.0) and No. 2 in passing defense (95.0) and overall is ranked as the No. 2 defense in the NFL (141.0).
The defense gave up 67 yards to start the game on a 12 play touchdown drive. After that, the Bengals had just 74 yards the rest of the game. In the second half, the defense held the Bengals to just seven yards, overall and just one first down.
"It's tough," Myles Garrett said after the game. "We would've loved to have played the first half how we played the second half. I think that would've really put the game away much sooner. Kind of similar to how we did it in '23.
"I think that's something that we can take away, that we have that level of quality on the defensive front, being able to shut those guys down, keep them from dominating the game with the special individuals they have over there."
Safety Ronnie Hickman said the coaches made adjustments at halftime.
"I loved how we were able to come back," Hickman said. "But I think overall, it's just a matter of it shouldn't take that much to get us as a defense to play like that. If we came out the gate playing how we played in that second half, I think it'd be a different ending for that game. But it just shows us what type of defense we can be and how we need to play all four quarters, not just the last two of the game."
Quarterback Joe Burrow was held to the third-lowest yardage total of his career with 113 passing yards.
The question is can the Browns do it again and create consistency carried over to Week Two and beyond.
The biggest difference was the defense did not get a takeaway, while the Bengals had two interceptions off of footballs that went off the hands of wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and Cedric Tillman.
Creating no takeaways was the only negative on the defense.