The Cincinnati Bengals’ defense allowed 18 more plays of 10 yards or more Sunday afternoon against Cleveland after surrendering 20 such plays in the season-opening loss at Baltimore.

In two games this season, defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s group has allowed 71 points and 839 yards, numbers that make head coach Marvin Lewis feel fortunate to be 1-1 instead of 0-2.

“You can’t win many football games in the National Football League when you give up whatever we gave up in points (Sunday),” Lewis said Monday. “I know that for a fact. You have to play better on defense, and you can’t give up explosive plays like we did, the six explosive plays we gave up yesterday. You’re going to put yourself behind a lot.”

The Bengals never trailed Sunday, but that was only because quarterback Andy Dalton turned in one of his best games to date, topping the 300-yard mark (318) for the third time and finishing with a career-best 128.2 passer rating.

“We don’t ever want to put that on our offense,” Bengals linebacker Rey Maualuga said. “We don’t like putting the pressure on our offense where after they score, the other team scores and now they’ve got to go back out there and put even more points on the board.”

Maualuga had a team-high 10 tackles, but four were on plays that went for 8 yards or more and he missed on several other attempts as he struggled for the second consecutive game.

“He’s got to make some more plays in the open field,” Lewis said of Maualuga. “He’s handling the things he’s doing well defensively, as far as what he needs to do and the interpretation of what we’re doing, but he’s got to make more plays. Mechanically, he’s got to play better.”

The secondary also struggled as Browns rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden completed 26-of-37 passes – many of which were in the middle of the field – and finished with 322 yards and two touchdowns one week after a dismal 118-yard, four-interception performance in his debut.

The Bengals weren’t able to get much pressure on Weeden, but Lewis attributed much of that to the fact that the Browns were keep guys in and going with a max-protect philosophy.

“We have to respond better in the coverage side because there are less people out running routes,” he said. “We have to do a better job of getting matched up and taking away those throws. And when we make them check it down, be in the right coverage position, then make the tackles.”

The open receivers, patient quarterbacks and missed tackles are themes that cannot continue if the Bengals expect to contend for a division title and second consecutive playoff berth.

“We need to play (better), each and every guy,” Lewis said. “They all made some very positive plays, and they all did some things that we need to do better and be more consistent with throughout the football game. We need to play more consistent, and we need to play better.”