It's always a big trip to Cleveland for Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. But Sunday (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's Local 12) is just a little bit different.
His dad played there and his mom is from there and the NFL's reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Myles Garrett, is waiting for him in the other trench. But this one is about Orlando Claude Brown Jr. himself and the vow he made after the last time the Bengals played Cleveland.
It was the 2023 regular-season finale at Paycor Stadium and Garrett and most of the Browns starters didn't play because they were getting ready for the playoffs.
After the Bengals won, Brown did his annual self-evaluation, and nine days after that game against the Browns this four-time Pro Bowler was back in the Paycor weight room with Bengals head strength and conditioning coach Joey Boese and his staff to begin a much different offseason regimen.
"I had reached a point last season where I was the most flexible I've ever been in my ankles and hips, but I didn't have the strength I needed in playing football positions," Brown said after Thursday's practice. "I needed to develop my fundamental strength, and we went back and did some old-school work."
The results are across-the-board unanimous.
Bengals center Ted Karras says Brown's playing the best football of his career. Bengals Pro Bowl edge Trey Hendrickson, like Garrett, one of the best sackers of his time, could have told you that back in training camp when he was going against him every day. Brown himself confirms heels as if this is, no question, the best of his seven NFL seasons.
"He's having a phenomenal year," Boese says. "When you've got a guy who is a prime-time player in the league and a prime-time player for us and he comes in and says he wants to get better, that tells you something."
Boese and assistants Garrett Swanson and Todd Hunt helped draw up the plan. When Hunt left for the Packers early in the offseason, new hire Diamond Simmons became a face who helped keep Brown going. He can't say enough about them all and gratefully ticks off their names.
"I think he had one three-day weekend to go to Colorado with his wife from January to April," Boese says. "I can't emphasize enough how committed Orlando was to go for it. Every day. 10 a.m. Every day he was here at 9:45 ready to go."
Brown would work Monday and Tuesday. He'd take Wednesday off to recover, but usually came in to stretch. He was back Thursday and Friday. Two days for the upper body. Two days for the lower body. The plan was so old school that the late Orlando Brown Sr. probably had similar offseasons when he played for the Browns of the early '90s before they moved to Baltimore.
Swanson recalls "The Farmer Walks," where Brown carried 120-pound dumb bells in each hand for 30 yards. Boese goes through the list like a NASA launch director. Dead lifts off the floor. The barbell squats. The barbell bench. The shoulder press. The free weights unleashing Brown's strength.
After Brown had left a session about two weeks in, Boese looked at Swanson and said, "He's already getting stronger." When the Bengals reported in late April, they had to remind him the team was back, and the emphasis was football.
"The weight on the bar is a little heavier even though now during the season the emphasis is on football and you lift two days and practice four … He's just stronger," Boese says. "His weight room numbers have all gone up extremely. Some of the gains he got we've been able to keep through the early part of the season."
The numbers back up the numbers. Pro Football Focus grades rank Brown 12th in pass protection and 12th overall among all tackles. His offense is 10th in scoring, seventh in passing, and seventh in scoring inside the 20.
"I re-evaluated myself and I looked at it from a front office perspective and I said I can do better," Brown said. "I sat down with Joey and we developed a plan.
"My body was moving quicker, but I wasn't strong enough in those positions because I hadn't necessarily trained those positions like I needed to."
So it isn't so much about Brown vs. Garrett, the NFL's reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Or about Brown playing in the shadow of his dad or about Brown getting the best seat in the house for his mom.
This is simply Orlando Brown Jr. remembering on Thursday it was nine days after the last Cleveland game he went into the Paycor weight room to get better.
"That's how I've always tried to do it," said Brown of just making it about him, not the other guy. "But now more than ever. I've just got to go play my game. It could be King Kong out there. Take the same pass set and mindset."
Kong doesn't have as many sacks as Garrett in the 2020s, but Brown is playing with confidence Boese sees on film and on the field, as well with a certain serenity.
"You can see the product of that," said Brown of his offseason. "And how this organization has allowed me to be myself, which has freed me up mentally. The way I lead, the things they allow me to do in the community. I can't say enough about the approach."
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Like his offense, Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase has found it tough sledding against the Browns. One of the great long-ball artists of his time, Chase is averaging less than 10 yards per catch on 47 catches in five games against the Browns. He tips his hat to Browns cornerback Denzel Ward, a guy he says follows him whenever he's on the outside.
"He's one of the best corners in the game," Chase said. "Everybody knows it. I just love the matchup because he always keeps me at my best. He always brings his 'A' game, he has (among) the best feet from any DB I've faced. He's just a smooth person that plays DB." …
How great of a long ball threat? Chase has ten touchdown catches of at least 60 yards and is three away from having the most of anyone in their first four seasons. And the guy he's chasing, the great Homer Jones, did it for the pre-merger Giants of the mid-1960s. And the guy he's tied with, Harlon Hill, retired during the JFK presidency. Here's some karma for Chase. Homer Jones finished his career in Cleveland with the 1970 Browns ...
If it sounds like Chase is a bit more restrained this season when it comes to talking about Bengals' foes, he is. But not so much because he's doing his media availabilities in the interview room these days.
"Zac told me like twice that 'You don't have to say so much.' That's what he told me," Chase said after Thursday's practice. "'You don't have to say so much.' He was just saying, 'Keep the words at a minimum.' Let my play do the talking, and that's respectful. I can understand that." …
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Ward (hamstring) was limited again …
