:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/43661500/458547004.0.jpg)
These aren't the good ol' Browns the Bengals could count on for 1-2 wins every year. This is a team that now has the right combination of young talent and quality veterans to become a contender in the AFC North, but the Bengals clearly didn't believe that going into Thursday night.
At least, not based on what rookie running back Jeremy Hill said of the Browns.That clearly angered Cleveland safety Donte Whitner, who, along with the rest of the Browns, will probably use this as motivation when the two teams play in December for a second time.
#Browns Donte Whitner on Jeremy Hill: "I'm going to take his words as ignorance. He was a sore loser...we're going to see them again.''
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) November 7, 2014
Hill's comments may just be rookie ignorance that the majority of the team, but watching how they played Thursday, it's hard to think the Bengals weren't at least slightly underestimating Cleveland.