On a day when quarterback Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ high-powered offense struggled against the Cleveland Browns, it was the Cincinnati defense that showed up and catapulted the team to a 17-16 road win at Huntington Bank Field on Sunday.

It was the first opening game win for the Bengals in the last four tries.

All this on the heels of last season’s narrative that the Bengals’ defense cost them a spot in the postseason last year. D.J. Turner and Jordan Battle both came up with big interceptions in the second half to help seal the win.

“It was great. We did exactly what we wanted to do,” Turner said. “All the outside noise we don’t care about. We’ve known the entire time what the defense can do.”

Cincinnati was playing its first game with new defensive coordinator Al Golden at the helm, as the offense struggled and posted just seven yards of offense in the second half, with five of six possessions resulting in a 3-and-out.

“We found a way to win. Like somebody said earlier, we didn’t win any of these games last year,” said Burrow, who completed 14 of 23 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown. Usually, when you can win a game like this, that’s a recipe for success, and that means you are going to be a good team if you can find a lot of different ways to win, and we did today.”

The Browns’ offense outgained their opposing offense 327-141 and possessed the ball for nearly 36 of 60 minutes. But the Bengals benefited from new Cleveland kicker Andre Szmyt missing two second-half kicks.

After winning the job during the preseason from Dustin Hopkins, Szmyt went wide right on an extra point after a Cedric Tillman five-yard touchdown pass halfway through the third quarter. Then, with just 2:25 left in the game, he went wide right again on a potential go-ahead 36-yard field goal attempt.

“Can’t be minus-2 (on turnovers) versus a good football team. That’s the story of this football game,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “We obviously missed a field goal, missed an extra point. Those are points, and in these types of games, you have to come away with points.”

Joe Flacco became the eighth quarterback at age 40 or older to start a season opener in the NFL, and went 31-of-35 for 290 yards with a touchdown and two picks. Both of the interceptions credited to Flacco were balls that were deflected into the air by his receivers.

“I felt like we did a lot of good things, but we also did a lot of things that get you beat. You know, we just kind of felt we kind of played like an inexperienced team a little bit today,” Flacco said.

The last of Flacco’s INTs bounced off Tillman and into the arms of Turner at the Browns’ 47-yard line with just 1:50 left in the game, ending any hope of a Cleveland comeback in front of the home crowd.

“For our guys just to find a way to win in the end. I’m proud of them,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “The best outcome of this game is 1-0. Forget about the stats. Forget about the score. Forget about how it all played out. The best the outcome could have been was 1-0 and we’re proud of that.”

The two Bengals’ star receivers – Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins – combined for five catches for just 59 total yards.

“We stole one today, we’re going to have to do better,” Burrow said.

Next up, the Bengals host Jacksonville on Sunday and the Browns travel to Baltimore, also on Sunday.