The Browns managed to overcome The T.O. Show, a monster game by the Bengals receiver.
View full sizeTerrell Owens beats Sheldon Brown to the ball for this first-down grab in the first quarter Sunday afternoon. It was one of 10 receptions good for 222 yards for the Bengals' receiver. "T.O. was way bigger than I thought in person," said rookie cornerback Joe Haden. "He just does what he has to do to get open."CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Bengals receiver Terrell Owens saved up his frustration for his Twitter account after he left the Stadium following the Browns' 23-20 victory over the Bengals.
"So [ticked] right now!" he wrote. "Def should have won that game!"
For much of the afternoon, it was The T.O. Show -- and the reality was that he almost became the Browns' undoing in the same way that Baltimore's Anquan Boldin was last week.
But Sunday, the Browns managed to survive the T.O. onslaught -- 10 catches for 222 yards and a 78-yard TD -- to pull out the victory with some great defense and offense on the final two drives.
"If somebody would've told me that he caught 900 yards and we got a win, I wouldn't care," said linebacker David Bowens. "Our game plan was to take 85 [Chad Ochocinco] out of the game and we doubled him all day. T.O. is a heck of a player. But we got the win."
This time, the blame for the huge game was spread all around the secondary, with the biggest play coming against cornerback Sheldon Brown. Singled up on Owens down the left sideline in the second quarter, Brown was running stride for stride but got tripped up and fell at about the Browns' 45. Owens caught the ball at about the 40 a split-second later and zoomed uncontested into the end zone for the 78-yard score.
Once there, he placed the ball very deliberately on the goal-line and then walked over to the left corner of the end zone, where a sign read, "T.O. and C.O. have B.O." He spread his arms out to a chorus of boos and apparently a thrown beer or two.
"I feel like my feet maybe got tangled up, I don't know, and I ended up falling," said Brown. "They tried a shot like that earlier and I ended up covering it pretty good. They came back at him and they got a play."
Does Owens still make that catch if Brown stays up?
"I wouldn't say that," he said. "I'd think I'd be able to compete to the ball if I was able to keep my feet."
View full sizeThe tight coverage of Joe Haden was rewarded when Chad Ochocinco couldn't pull in a potential touchdown pass from Carson Palmer in the second quarter. "Our game plan was to take 85 out of the game," said linebacker David Bowens, "and we doubled him all day."Cornerback Eric Wright's worst moment was a 42-yard pass surrendered to Ochocinco in the second quarter. Wright often faced Owens in the slot, but the Bengal's success didn't attract criticism from Eric Mangini.
"We put Eric in some tough spots because we were doubling Ochocinco pretty much the whole game, which meant that there was going to be a lot of opportunities for Terrell to be singled up," said Mangini. "I know it looks like he gave up that play [to Ochocinco], but he should have had help over the top. Eric is going to compete each week and make his share of plays. I have faith in him."
Wright redeemed himself at the end of that drive by breaking up a pass in the end zone to Owens to force the Bengals to settle for a field goal that made it 10-3 Browns.
Wright also helped cause Palmer's first fumble when he blitzed and rattled Cedric Benson before he secured the ball. Kenyon Coleman recovered and the Browns converted it into a field goal to open the scoring.
In the fourth quarter, Wright knocked down the pass to rookie Jordan Shipley in the end zone just before safety T.J. Ward hit Shipley in the head with his arm to knock him out of the game with a concussion.
"You robbed me of a [pass broken up]," Wright kidded to Ward after the game. Instead of Wright saving the day, Ward was flagged and the Bengals scored on the next play to close to within 23-20.
"I tried to make some plays and help us win," said Wright. "It's not a question of if I was coming back or how I was coming back. I'm not really focused on trying to play outside of myself."
As for Owens' performance, Wright said, "It's not always as clean and pretty as you want it to be. But we were able to grind it out. We turned guys loose. Most of their big plays were because of miscommunication on our part on the back end, especially the free plays. It's definitely a work in progress."
To put Owens' game in perspective, he had more receiving yards (222) than the Browns had net passing yards (179). He also moved to second on the NFL's all-time receiving yardage list with 15,325.
Joe Haden gave up a 25-yard pass to Owens, Ward a 27-yarder over the middle. No one was spared.
"T.O. was way bigger than I thought in person," said Haden. "He just does what he has to do to get open. Both him and Chad are both really good receivers. After he got that big TD catch, we knew we needed to stay calm. They're going to make plays. But we finally made enough to win one."