Kevin Stefanski picked up his first head coaching victory on Thursday night when his Cleveland Browns stymied the visiting Cincinnati Bengals, 35-30. Even though his defense allowed the 30 points, Stefanski took pride in how hard his Browns defense made it.
Cincinnati ran 88 plays but gained just 353 yards. The 4.0 yards per play is a terribly inefficient figure for the Bengals offense, with Joe Burrow attempting 61 passes.
He was especially happy with the run defense. Even with starting DE Olivier Vernon and two key LBs, Mack Wilson and Jacob Phillips, all sidelined, the Browns allowed talented Bengals RB Joe Mixon just 2.8 yards per carry.
“Our front did a nice job,” Stefanski said proudly in his Zoom press conference with reporters the day after the game. “The defensive line was very aggressive. Joe Mixon is a heck of a back, and he is not easy to get on the ground so there had to be some swamp tackling going on. If you can limit the run game like we did, it applies a ton of pressure and allows our front to rush the passer.”
Mixon ran 16 times for 46 yards and did not score. The strong run defense kept Burrow and the Bengals offense in 2nd-and-long frequently.
