The Browns make the plays at the end to win their first game, 23-20, and stop the Cincinnati Bengals' eight-game winning streak in AFC North games.
View full sizeMatt Roth was far from the only Cleveland Brown eager to flex his muscles after Sunday's 23-20 triumph over Cincinnati, the Browns' first win of the season. Roth's fourth-quarter sack of QB Carson Palmer ended the Bengals' final scoring threat.TONY’S TAKE
Offense: Seneca Wallace actually played a much better game than in Baltimore, even though his passer rating was about 12 points lower. He created plays with his legs and did a better job spreading the ball around. Peyton Hillis was a beast again, carrying 27 times for 102 yards and one TD. Another good game for Lawrence Vickers and the offensive line. Bottom line: Balance and diversity give them a chance to win.
Defense: Eric Wright and the secondary struggled again, giving up 222 yards to Terrell Owens and 371 overall in the passing game. But major contributions from Matt Roth (two sacks, including the key one at the end), Scott Fujita (sack and forced fumble) and Kenyon Coleman (sack and two fumble recoveries) kept the Browns from blowing a fourth-quarter lead for the fourth time in a row. Bottom line: Maybe they shouldn’t blitz as much.
Special teams: Excellent job limiting the Bengals to 49 return yards on three punts and five kickoffs. Josh Cribbs showed some encouraging signs of breaking a couple of kickoff returns. Fujita had a key blocked field goal on a play put in this week by coach Brad Seely. The Browns’ average drive start at the 34 was eight yards better than the Bengals’. Bottom line: That’s more like it.
Coaching: Rob Ryan seemed to crank up the blitzes in the first half more than ever. The one noticeable change was sending a cornerback rather than a safety. The blitzes ceased in the second half when the Bengals went to a no-huddle to make up a 10-point deficit. Seely’s blocked field goal play worked to perfection. Bottom line: Won a game they absolutely had to win.
— Tony Grossi
• Ward not defensive about big hit: Insider
• Wallace proves his worth: Bud Shaw | Boxscore
• A much-needed win: Terry Pluto | Pluto's scribbles
• Secondary couldn't stop Owens | Palmer laments loss
• More Browns coverage and videos
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Browns are 1-3 today instead of 0-4 because they finished what they started.
With a lead in the fourth quarter for the fourth game in a row, they finally made the plays to prevail.
They survived 222 receiving yards by Terrell Owens and won, 23-20, sending the Cincinnati Bengals (2-2) home with their first division defeat in nine games. The defending AFC North champions' last loss inside the division was on Dec. 2, 2008.
The first win of the Browns' Mike Holmgren era followed the formula favored by coach Eric Mangini. There was strong play on special teams, including a block of a Cincinnati field goal try, pass pressure coming from unpredictable angles and tough, punishing running by Peyton Hillis.
Hillis surpassed 100 yards for the second game in a row and scored a touchdown on the ground for the fourth game in a row. His 24-yard run around right end on his 27th and last carry sealed the win at the two-minute warning.
Hillis never left the field until quarterback Seneca Wallace went into victory formation by taking a knee on the final three of the Browns' 66 offensive plays.
"I actually feel a lot better this week than last week," said Hillis, who totaled 144 yards in the 24-17 loss to Baltimore.
Winning has recuperative powers.
Defensive end Kenyon Coleman didn't practice all week because of a knee injury and then turned in what he called the game of his career with a sack of Carson Palmer, two fumble recoveries and a hand in limiting the Bengals to 67 yards rushing.
"I couldn't even jog on Friday," Coleman said. "I called [Mangini] and [defensive line coach] Bryan Cox at 6 o'clock on Saturday and told them I think I could go. There's no doubt it was God's doing. I was sold on it being a miracle that I could even play, let alone my best game ever."
If the Browns had blown this one, as they did the previous three Sundays, their secondary would be feeling the anguish of another horrendous afternoon.
Owens, who is still great at 36, beat Sheldon Brown for a 78-yard TD in the first half and then tacked on almost another 100 yards in the second half, mostly against Wright, who did not exactly chase the ghost of Anquan Boldin from his mind.
Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer kept the Browns' defense on its heels with an up-tempo, no-huddle attack after he fell behind, 23-10, on Hillis' 1-yard TD run and Phil Dawson's 22-yard field goal in the third quarter. Owens, targeted 15 times in the game, caught six passes for 94 yards in the second half.
"We put Eric in some tough spots because we were doubling [Chad] Ochocinco pretty much the whole game," Mangini said.
Even rookie safety T.J. Ward contributed to the secondary breakdowns when he leveled Cincinnati rookie Jordan Shipley with a forearm smash on a third-down incompletion in the end zone. Cincinnati would have kicked a field goal there, but the new set of downs led to a Palmer shovel pass to Brian Leonard for a 3-yard touchdown that closed the Browns' lead to 23-20 with 10:44 to go.
"I kind of think it was an unfair call," said Ward, who was accused of a cheap shot in the Bengals' locker room. "I didn't lead with my helmet. I led with my shoulder. I felt I came in the same time the ball came in. I did what any DB would've done."
After the Browns' offense went three-and-out on its ensuing possession, you couldn't avoid thinking, "We can't bear to watch seeing this again."
Palmer, who threw for 371 yards, had his team at the Browns' 31 in 10 plays. Then on third down, rookie cornerback Joe Haden broke on a sideline pass for Ochocinco. Ochocinco pulled Haden down to avoid what Haden thought would be a sure interception.
The penalty moved the Bengals back to the 41. Third-and-13. Look for Owens, right? Well, Palmer did, but Wright managed to tie him up at the line of scrimmage. The delay was enough for Palmer to leave the pocket and linebacker Matt Roth chased him from the blind side for the sack and a Cincinnati punt with 5:14 to play.
Wallace took over at the Browns' 11. A key holding penalty on Bengals defensive tackle Pat Sims gave the Browns a first down and breathing room. Then it was Hillis lugging the ball five times in row behind an energized offensive line and fullback Lawrence Vickers to preserve the win.
"[The line and Vickers] wanted to run the ball and there was no doubt in their mind that they were going to get a first down and run out the clock," Mangini said.
By then, the big swing of the game had been forgotten.
Linebacker Scott Fujita, on a play devised by special teams coordinator Brad Seely, blocked a Mike Nugent field goal with 1:31 left in the first half that would have given the Bengals a 13-10 advantage.
Wallace, who had built a 10-0 lead on a field goal and a 24-yard TD pass to tight end Evan Moore, did not sit on the ball. He got the Browns into position for a 31-yard Dawson field goal as the first half ran out.
Then Wallace moved the offense 64 yards in 11 plays after the second-half kickoff for the Hillis touchdown. Those 10 points ignited by the blocked field goal represented a 13-point swing from perhaps being down, 13-10, to ahead, 20-10.
It wouldn't have mattered, of course, had not the Browns heeded the stern message that Fujita delivered during the week and finished the game.
Fujita, who experienced the joy of a Super Bowl championship with the Saints last season, tossed another zinger following the overdue win.
"This does nothing but guarantee we are not going 0-16," he said. "It's one win, feels great, but we have to build on this."