CLEVELAND -- Wide receiver Charlie Jones started the game with a 100-yard return on the opening kickoff, left end Sam Hubbard spiced the middle of the game with the first interception of his seven-year NFL career and quarterback Joe Burrow finished off the Bengals' 21-14 victory over the Browns Sunday with two second-half touchdown passes.

The Browns lost quarterback Deshaun Watson to an Achilles injury late in the first half, and the Bengals defense shut down backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson with two interceptions.

With the Bengals leading 7-6 on the first series of the second half, a blitz by safety Vonn Bell on fourth-and-two from the Bengals 35 forced Thompson-Robinson into an incompletion and set the tone for the final two quarters.

Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. exited the game early in the second quarter with a right knee injury and Cody Ford stepped in to help hold reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett without a sack.

Burrow, the NFL leader in passer rating, racked up his fifth triple-digit rating game of the season at 108.9. He finished 15 of 25 for 181 yards and his 13th and 14th touchdown passes. After Thompson-Robinson threw safety Geno Stone his first interception as a Bengal with four minutes left in the game, he left with an injury and the Browns finished with emergency quarterback Jameis Winston. Winston threw a late touchdown to David Njoku to bring the Browns within a score, but the Bengals recovered the ensuing onside kick to clinch the game.

NOTES

Jones Sets Tone With 100-Yard Return

Charlie Jones took the game's opening kickoff from his own goal line and ran it back 100 yards to give the Bengals a 7-0 lead just 12 seconds in. Some notable facts on the play:

• It was the 13th kickoff returned for a touchdown in Bengals history, and the first since former safety Brandon Wilson had a 103-yard return on Nov. 29, 2020 against the New York Giants.
• It marked the second time in team history that the Bengals opened a game with a kickoff return touchdown. The first time came on Oct. 13, 2019, when Wilson ran it back 92 yards at Baltimore.
• It tied for the third-longest kickoff return in Bengals history and sixth-longest play overall. The previous returns that went for 100+ yards were Wilson's 103-yarder, running back Eric Bieniemy's 102-yarder on Oct. 26, 2007 against the Giants and wide receiver Glenn Holt's 100-yarder on Nov. 4, 2007 at Buffalo.
• It was the longest kickoff return in the NFL this season and the third kick returned for a touchdown. The last time an NFL player returned a kickoff 100+ yards to the end zone was Week 18 of the 2022 season, when Buffalo running back Nyheim Hines opened the game with a 101-yard return against New England.

Joe Finds Ja'Marr and Tee For Third-Quarter TDs

Joe Burrow connected with Ja’Marr Chase on a back-shoulder touchdown throw to cap off the Bengals' first possession of the second half and extend the lead to 14-6. It was Chase's sixth touchdown reception of the season, the league lead through Sunday's games.

Later in the third, the Bengals put together a 12-play, 78-yard drive culminating in a Burrow slant pass to Tee Higgins that the fifth-year receiver took 25 yards to the end zone. It was Higgins' third touchdown of the season and 27th of his career.

Chase finished the game with five catches for 55 yards, while Higgins added four grabs for 82 yards.

Hendrickson, Rankins Log First-Half Sacks

Trey Hendrickson celebrated his 100th career regular-season game by recording his sixth sack of the season, when he got to Deshaun Watson on a third down to force a Browns punt in the opening quarter. He later notched his seventh sack of the year late in the fourth quarter, bringing down Jameis Winston coming out of the two-minute warning. Hendrickson now has 14 career multi-sack games (three this season).

In the second quarter, Sheldon Rankins logged his first sack as a Bengal when he tracked down Watson for a loss of seven yards. It boosted Rankins' career sack total to 30.5.

Hubbard Grabs First Career INT

Midway through the third quarter, Sam Hubbard dropped into coverage and picked off a tipped pass by Dorian Thompson-Robinson to set up the Bengals' offense at the Cleveland 43-yard line. It

marked Hubbard's first career interception in his 97th game played. Hubbard also logged his second sack of the season, forcing a Thompson-Robinson fumble in the Browns' backfield early in the fourth quarter.

Stone's Notches First INT as a Bengal

Geno Stone recorded his first interception as a member of the Bengals when he picked off Thompson-Robinson with just over four minutes left and returned it 49 yards to the Browns' 30.

It marked Stone's ninth career pick. He had an AFC-leading seven interceptions last season in his final year with the Baltimore Ravens.

QUOTES

"That's more what it's like in this division. We'll just take them how we can get them. Obviously, we want to score a lot of points, and there's some things that we can continue to improve on to do that. It's just about playing good complementary football, and I thought in the second half there we did a good job of that. We found a way to win, and that's all that mattered coming out of here." -- Head Coach Zac Taylor, on the style of play in today's game

"I would say I'm pretty optimistic about how our team is playing right now. The last two weeks have been big for our defense, getting healthy, making plays, causing turnovers. That's what our defense is all about. That was big." -- Quarterback Joe Burrow, on the team's defensive performances in the last two games

"We put Drew Sample out there, and it could not have been a better block play. He made the hole huge and really made the return easy for me. Everybody did their job in front of me and it was awesome. It was a great call by Darrin Simmons and it is such a good feeling to be back in the end zone." -- Wide Receiver Charlie Jones, on what led to his 100-yard kickoff return touchdown

"This is a tough place to win. We haven't historically won here, so to get this win is really big. Was on all of our minds, for some reason we just couldn't get the win up here. To have that accomplished is huge for us going forward for the division, and to keep going where we want to go." -- Defensive End Sam Hubbard, on earning a win in Cleveland

"It shows the type of team we are. We can win high scoring games, we can win slug it out games. We play as well as we did these past two games…it's a huge confidence boost for us." -- Cornerback Mike Hilton, on winning low-scoring games each of the past two weeks

"We just wanted to come out and try and dominate the half. Obviously we left a lot out there in the first half, and we wanted to come out in the second half and dominate. I think we still left a little bit more out there than we wanted to, but we'll look at it tomorrow, correct it, and try to get another win next week." -- Wide Receiver Tee Higgins, on the offense's production in the second half