In the biggest game of his life, on the huge national stage, Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer rose to the occasion, and his defense completely shut down, befuddled and embarrassed his Bengals counterpart Andy Dalton.
As a result of the Browns’ defensive dominance and Hoyer’s superb outing, the Browns crushed Cincinnati 24-3 at Paul Brown Stadium to move into a tie for first place in the AFC North with the Steelers at 6-3 — at least for a few days. The Steelers visit the 1-8 Jets on Sunday.
Dalton was so bad — three interceptions and a career-low 2.0 rating — that Bengals coach Marvin Lewis finally put the fans out of their misery and inserted Jason Campbell with a little over four minutes remaining.
The Bengals, meanwhile, slipped to 5-3-1 and lost for the first time at home since the end of the 2012 season. They had been unbeaten in 14 straight games here, going 13-0-1 overall and 4-0-1 this season before Thursday night.
The Browns also busted their 17-game road losing streak in the division, the longest skid in the NFL since the 1970 merger. The Browns hadn’t won a division game on the road since a 20-12 victory at Cincinnati on Sept. 28, 2008. They also now have their best record through nine games since 1994, when they started 7-2.
Hoyer (15-for-23, 198 yards, 92.3 rating), who needs to keep winning to prove to the Browns he’s their long-term answer, consistently hit big plays and improved to 9-3 as a Browns starter. His stellar performance came just two days after GM Ray Farmer indicated the Browns are still grooming Johnny Manziel to be their quarterback of the future.
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