CLEVELAND _ The Bengals stashed "The Griddy,' and won gritty Sunday.
So they were able to do and say the things winners can do and say after opening the season with a 17-16 victory that will not go down in folklore, or song, or history. Only in the win column.
And that's the point.
"Everything didn't go our way on every single play, but I truly believe our guys did nothing to beat ourselves," said head coach Zac Taylor. "Or to allow us to beat ourselves. We just played disciplined."
So, they could act like winners in a postgame locker room.
"Can you shout me out?" asked rookie defensive end Shemar Stewart after he helped generate tackle B.J. Hill's red-zone-third-down sack with 2:25 left in the damndest fourth quarter you ever saw.
Stewart and defending NFL sack champion Trey Hendrickson had converged on Browns quarterback Joe Flacco from both edges as Hill broke the pocket. It looked like Hendrickson got the sack. Or half of it.
"That's the one where Joe Flacco stepped away from me?" Stewart asked, just playing. "I threw him a bone right there. They can't say I'm not a great teammate."
Meanwhile, Hendrickson lobbied anyone who would listen that he got at least half a sack on the play as he brandished his tablet, something else that wouldn't happen after a loss.
Nor would this. Linebacker Logan Wilson revealed with a smile that when he returned to the game from being evaluated for a concussion, rookie linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. informed him he had made some tackles in his absence.
"That's his ability," said Wilson approvingly of Knight's sideline-to-sideline ten tackles. "He just has to stack days. It's a good start."
The Bengals defense had every right and reason to enjoy themselves. After an offseason of naysaying negativity, they saved the opener and maybe the season. Two terrific interceptions of Flacco were buttressed by a downright stingy 49 yards rushing, their best effort ever in their 11 games against Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski's deadly running scheme.
That's the least they've allowed dating back to the last month of the 2023 season. It's one of the six fewest games under Taylor. Four of those came when new defensive coordinator Al Golden was the Bengals linebackers coach in 2020 and 2021.
Back on Wednesday, Wilson had predicted in order for things to go well Sunday, they had to be plus-two in the turnover margin. After all, "ball disruption and turnovers," are the foundations of Golden's scheme.
"I hope so, based on how much we've harped on it. It has to be," Wilson told Bengals.com of the biggest differences from this year and last.
Thanks to the picks of safety Jordan Battle and cornerback DJ Turner II on strikingly similar one-handers scooped off the grass off the bounce of a dropped pass, the turnover margin was exactly plus-two.
"I would never lie to you," said Wilson, who thinks this win can be the perfect launch pad for the self-confidence of his teammates.
"It's got to give us confidence. I don't know how it couldn't," Wilson said. "We did enough of what we thought we were capable of. Now we have to work on the things that we didn't do well."
What they did stupendously was stop the run and not allow the Browns to dictate the game. They were in the game, but guys like new nose tackle T.J. Slaton refused to give it to them.
"I thought they were going to come out and try to run the ball. And run the ball. And run the ball," said Slaton, whose 320 pounds fit quite nicely in the AFC North run fits on Sunday.
"Luckily, we stopped the run. And we got them to pass, pass, pass. We got them to play our game at the end," Slaton said. "It boosts everybody's confidence. It shows everybody what we could be. Hopefully, everybody sees the great team we could be, and hopefully we keep it going."
When Zac Taylor asked Karras to pick a guy to lead the Who-Dey chant, Batte was another solid decision at the end of a day there were many. His play midway through the third quarter gave them a short field and the winning points on Evan McPherson's field goal.
"A new year," Battle said. "To set a clearer standard all year. Ball disruption and takeaways and that's what we did today. We talked about it all OTAs and training camp and today you saw it."
What you also saw was more adversity than a soap opera. No team in the last 25 years has had fewer yard in the fourth quarter and won. No Zac Taylor team has gained fewer yards than Sunday's 141. They lost their right guard less than 15 snaps in. They lost Wilson, one of their defensive captains, for two series.
"Two yards a carry. I know that was the same as us," Taylor said. "But if we're playing a game where our defense is doing that, I'm going to feel really good about the outcome."
Joe Burrow had been saved by his defense. They hope this becomes a more common theme than his first five seasons.
The man himself was certainly impressed.
"You can make as many plays in practice as you want, but you go out there on Sunday and don't make any plays, then that's all that really matters," Burrow said. "They made big-time plays today in big spots. I thought they stopped the run and put some pressure on Joe in some key spots. The two turnovers were just great plays by our guys."
They won gritty. But they didn't do "The Griddy."
That was the point, too. From Griddy himself
"Worship my defense right now. I've been congratulating them since a minute and twenty seconds left on the clock," said wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase. "Nothing but praise to those guys. Can't say anything more than just a hell of a job today.
"From being in the NFL for so long now, the games that are ugly and we win, we've got to take it. Every game is not going to be pretty. Every game is not going to be the best. For me, for Tee [Higgins], for Joe. It's not going to be best for us. We've got to take everything we can, and get the W."
