CINCINNATI (AP) — Three touchdown catches on three different routes. Tight end Tyler Eifert got a lot of attention with his latest impressive game.
So did the rest of his team.
Eifert caught three touchdown passes from Andy Dalton on Thursday night, leading the unbeaten Bengals to a 31-10 victory over the Johnny Manziel and the Cleveland Browns that put Cincinnati in totally new territory.
The Bengals are 8-0 for the first time. The eight straight wins are a club record for one season. And they’re in control of the AFC North at the season’s midpoint.
For the Browns (2-7), it’s become monotonous. They’ve lost six of seven and can’t even get out of their own way at pivotal times.
“Our mistakes just caught up to us,” coach Mike Pettine said.
Dalton made hardly any of those in a game that had special significance. Last year, he also faced the Browns at Paul Brown Stadium on Thursday night and had his worst game, throwing three interceptions and finishing with a passer rating of 2.0.
This time, he was nearly flawless. Dalton went 21 of 27 for 234 yards with a passer rating of 139.8. When he arrived for his postgame interview, he didn’t even wait for the first question.
The quarterback also played lead blocker on Mohamed Sanu’s 25-yard reverse for a touchdown, although the play worked so well that there was nobody for him to touch.
By contrast, Manziel managed only one good half. He led the Browns on a 92-yard touchdown drive — their longest since 2013 — just before halftime, cutting the lead to 14-10. In the second half, the Browns managed only 32 yards and two first downs.