WEEK 1 · FINAL
THE READ
Kayla James
The showman
107 points between Browns and Bengals
The Browns and Bengals combined for 107 points in a shootout that belonged entirely to the air, with Julian Sayin throwing 8 touchdowns on 542 yards and Taysom Hill catching 6 of them for 278 yards, while Joe Burrow answered with 5 touchdowns of his own and 387 yards to keep Cincinnati within striking distance. Cleveland's aerial dominance was total—555 yards to Cincinnati's 475—but it was Sayin's arm and Hill's hands that made the difference in a 56-51 win that will be retold as a clinic in aerial firepower. Both offenses moved at will; the Bengals just couldn't quite keep pace.
Kayla James
The showman
THE WIDER PICTURE
| Team | SRS | SOS | MARGIN | TO +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Browns | +10.2 | +2.5 | +7.8 | +3 |
| Bengals | +7.5 | +3.5 | +4.0 | +2 |
SRS is how many points a side beats an
average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good
team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20.
SOS is how hard that schedule has been.
Full table.
In the MVP race
#2
Julian Sayin
QB · Browns · 6.8% of the field
#5
Taysom Hill
TE · Browns · 2.1% of the field
#8
Joe Burrow
QB · Bengals · 1.5% of the field
The whole board →
IN THE BOOTH
Priya Hale
The superfan
This was pure air raid theatre—both offenses operating like they had cheat codes and neither defense existed. Julian Sayin threw 8 touchdown passes and 542 yards to beat Joe Burrow's 5 and Ja'Marr Chase's 287 on 4 scores, but the real difference was Cleveland's ground game wouldn't move at all while Cincinnati could lean on the pass whenever it wanted. The Browns won 56-51 because their quarterback had to be perfect, and he was; the Bengals lost because theirs couldn't quite be perfect enough.
Sierra Vaughn
Analyst
· replying
Cleveland won a shootout where it never had to establish anything on the ground—13 rushing yards, 4 run plays total—because Taysom Hill caught 6 touchdown passes and Sayin simply would not miss, but that kind of offensive dependency doesn't scale when defenses tighten up.
They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers —
none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that
did not happen.
Julian Sayin
Browns
29/43, 542 yards, 8 TD, 1 INT
Joe Burrow
Bengals
16/21, 387 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT
Taysom Hill
Browns
12 catches, 278 yards, 6 TD
THE STORY SO FAR
WHAT DECIDED IT
Through the air
Browns 542, Bengals 387
Browns
Total yards
Browns 555, Bengals 475
Browns
On the ground
Bengals 88, Browns 13
Bengals
Pressure
Bengals 1 sacks, Browns 2
Browns
THE ROOM
Final. The recap is below.
THE MATCHUP SCOUT
every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling
LEAGUE DATA
counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it
Pass-heavy
Pass 75% · Rush 25% · 44.0 scored, 36.2 allowed
10.7 yds/att
68.9% completions
6.6 yds/carry
488.2 yds/game
1.8 giveaways/game
3.2% sack rate
last 4: 3-1
SAPPHIRE METRICS
QB efficiency 83 · Efficient
Balance 75
Ball security 51
Back usage 22%
QB runs 1.2/game
Most exposed: one-man passing game -- Taysom Hill takes 39% of the receiving yards
PERSONNEL
off the roster — unit averages, best starters only
QB 84
WR 80
TE 92
RB 83
OL 81
DL 85
LB 85
DB 84
Best: Denzel Ward CB 96
Fastest: Raleek Brown HB 95 SPD
16 at star dev or better
YOUR NOTEBOOK
what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic
Sign in as a member of this league to keep private scouting notes on your opponents.
LEAGUE DATA
counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it
Pass-heavy
Pass 66% · Rush 34% · 31.0 scored, 27.0 allowed
10.4 yds/att
67.8% completions
6.0 yds/carry
303.2 yds/game
1.2 giveaways/game
5.3% sack rate
last 4: 2-2
SAPPHIRE METRICS
QB efficiency 78 · Efficient
Balance 77
Ball security 65
Back usage 30%
QB runs 1.2/game
Most exposed: one-man passing game -- Ja'Marr Chase takes 47% of the receiving yards
PERSONNEL
off the roster — unit averages, best starters only
QB 99
WR 91
TE 84
RB 88
OL 79
DL 87
LB 82
DB 85
Best: Ja'Marr Chase WR 99
Fastest: Ja'Marr Chase WR 96 SPD
10 at star dev or better
YOUR NOTEBOOK
what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic
Sign in as a member of this league to keep private scouting notes on your opponents.
HOW THEY PLAY
the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season
Huddy
Bengals · his last 4 games
Throws it
One back
One target
Pass / run66% / 34%
Points for / against31.0 — 27.0
Margin+4.0
Giveaways a game1.2
Sacks taken5.3% of dropbacks
Lead backKyren Williams · 9.0/g
Top targetJa'Marr Chase · 47%
QB carries1.2 a game
amarsman.
Browns · his last 4 games
Throws it
One back
One target
Pass / run75% / 25%
Points for / against44.0 — 36.2
Margin+7.8
Giveaways a game1.8
Sacks taken3.2% of dropbacks
Lead backQuinshon Judkins · 9.8/g
Top targetTaysom Hill · 39%
QB carries1.2 a game
Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.
THE SERIES
amarsman. against Huddy — the men, not the teams
amarsman. leads it 1-0.
amarsman. won the last one.
1 meeting
avg 56.0 — 51.0
biggest: 5 pts to amarsman.
S2 · week 1
amarsman. 56 — 51 Huddy
AMARSMAN.
Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.
MATCHUP ADVANTAGES
unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push
Browns receivers vs Bengals secondary
80 v 85
BENGALS
Bengals receivers vs Browns secondary
91 v 84
BENGALS
Browns line vs Bengals front
81 v 87
BENGALS
Bengals line vs Browns front
79 v 85
BROWNS
Browns backs vs Bengals run defence
83 v 85
EVEN
Bengals backs vs Browns run defence
88 v 85
BENGALS
Browns passer vs Bengals secondary
84 v 85
EVEN
Bengals passer vs Browns secondary
99 v 84
BENGALS
TOP PERFORMERS
🎬
The Game Recapthis game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›
BOX SCORE
BROWNS
BENGALS
BROWNS
BENGALS
BROWNS
BENGALS
BROWNS
BENGALS
BROWNS
BENGALS
BROWNS
| PLAYER | C/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | SCK | LNG | RTG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julian Sayin QB | 29/43 | 542 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 63 | 140.2 |
BENGALS
| PLAYER | C/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | SCK | LNG | RTG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Burrow QB | 16/21 | 387 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 75 | 137.4 |
BROWNS
| PLAYER | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | BTK | YAC | LNG | FUM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julian Sayin QB | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 |
| Quinshon Judkins HB | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Taysom Hill TE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| KC Concepcion Jr WR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
BENGALS
| PLAYER | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | BTK | YAC | LNG | FUM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyren Williams HB | 11 | 66 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 32 | 0 |
| Joe Burrow QB | 1 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 22 | 0 |
| Jackson Harris WR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
BROWNS
| PLAYER | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | YAC | DRP | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taysom Hill TE | 12 | 278 | 23.2 | 6 | 128 | 0 | 63 |
| KC Concepcion Jr WR | 7 | 86 | 12.3 | 0 | 56 | 0 | 30 |
| Quinshon Judkins HB | 4 | 64 | 16 | 1 | 69 | 0 | 23 |
| Denzel Boston WR | 2 | 61 | 30.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 39 |
| Ian Strong WR | 1 | 29 | 29 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 29 |
| Tommy Tremble TE | 3 | 24 | 8 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 13 |
BENGALS
| PLAYER | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | YAC | DRP | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ja'Marr Chase WR | 5 | 287 | 57.4 | 4 | 64 | 0 | 75 |
| Kyren Williams HB | 6 | 72 | 12 | 1 | 71 | 0 | 24 |
| Dalton Schultz TE | 1 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 12 |
| Terry McLaurin WR | 2 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Jackson Harris WR | 1 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Chase Brown HB | 1 | -2 | -2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
BROWNS
| PLAYER | TKL | SCK | INT | PD | FF | CMP ALW | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koi Perich FS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Grant Delpit SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ronnie Hickman CB | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tuli Tuipulotu LEDG | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jared Verse REDG | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mason Graham DT | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Denzel Ward CB | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah WILL | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Easton Mascarenas-Arnold WILL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jacob Rodriguez MIKE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carson Schwesinger MIKE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Will James CB | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
BENGALS
| PLAYER | TKL | SCK | INT | PD | FF | CMP ALW | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emmanuel McNeil-Warren SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cashius Howell LEDG | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Jackson CB | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Patrick Queen WILL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Calen Bullock FS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AJ Holmes JR DT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bobby Okereke MIKE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bryan Cook FS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dax Hill CB | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dexter Lawrence DT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shemar Stewart LEDG | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joshua Coleman MIKE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DJ Turner CB | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Azareye'h Thomas CB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
BROWNS
nothing recorded
BENGALS
| PLAYER | FG | XP | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evan McPherson K | 1/1 | 6/6 | 59 |
RECENT FORM
Browns
no games yet
Bengals
no games yet
TEAM STATS
| Browns | Bengals | |
|---|---|---|
| 555 | TOTAL YARDS | 475 |
| 542 | PASSING YARDS | 387 |
| 13 | RUSHING YARDS | 88 |
| 1 | SACKS ALLOWED | 2 |
| 2 | SACKS MADE | 1 |
| 1 | GIVEAWAYS | 1 |
| 1 | TAKEAWAYS | 1 |
Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.
ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD
1
BROWNS
—
0
BENGALS