Bengals remain unbeaten

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals, who are off to their best start in franchise history, remained unbeaten with a 31-10 victory over the Cleveland Browns Thursday. The Bengals improved to 8-0 as tight end Tyler Eifert caught three touchdown passes from quarterback Andy Dalton in front of a crowd of 65,800 at Paul Brown Stadium. “We don’t get anything for that,” said coach Marvin Lewis of being 8-0. Dalton led a balanced offense and the defense recorded three sacks in the second half against Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, who was unable to muster much off a counterpunch offensively. Dalton’s steady performance included going 21-of-27 for 263 yards and three touchdowns. Receiver Marvin Jones led Cincinnati with five catches for 78 yards against a Browns secondary playing without cornerback Joe Haden and strong safety Donte Whitner, who are both injured. Manziel started in place of injured No. 1 Josh McCown and played well in bursts, passing for 168 yards and a touchdown. But, Cincinnati’s defense sacked Manziel three times in the second half, holding Cleveland to just 32 total yards. Cincinnati figured to run the ball against the worst rush defense in the league, and they had 154 yards on the ground, led by Gio Bernard’s 71. The clinching touchdown came early in the fourth quarter when receiver Mohamed Sanu scored on a 25-yard reverse, giving the Bengals a 24-10 lead. Cincinnati engineered a 10-play, 63-yard drive on its first possession. After the Bengals converted on fourth-and-inches, Dalton passed to Eifert for a nine-yard touchdown pass, putting them ahead 7-0. With his two first-half touchdown catches, Eifert took over the NFL lead in touchdown grabs for tight ends. — AFP