The Cleveland Browns were able to notch the first win of the Eric Mangini era with an incredibly bad and boring 6-3 win over the Buffalo Bills, who seem to be the only team that the Browns can defeat anymore having their last two wins over Buffalo in addition to a 2007 win over the Bills.
The 1-4 Browns travel to Pittsburgh Sunday to take on the Steelers in what will most likely be the 12th loss in a row to Pittsburgh. Brownie Bits
1) Not sure whether to give the game ball to Billy Cundiff or Roscoe Parrish for the win.
Cundiff drilled both of his field goal attempts to give the Browns the points they needed despite a howling Buffalo win, but Parrish misjudged the punt that allowed Cleveland to have the field position they needed for Cundiff's game-winner.
2) Considering the Browns offense and the Bills too for that matter, this looked like the game was going to be decided as to who made the biggest mistake or it was going to be a 3-3 tie.
The win was bad enough, but is an extra quarter of football this bad???
3) Derek Anderson's 2-for-17 performance and resulting passer rating were the worst for a winning quarterback since the 1970 merger.
Anderson was not as bad as he looked as I counted seven dropped passes, but some of his heaves gave me just that.
4) Browns fans, I'll take the win just so I don't have to worry about pulling a Detroit, but didn't you feel a bit better about the losing effort against the Bengals than this win?
5) Jamal Lewis rushed for 117 yards and did so on 31 carries.
There are two ways to look at tho se numbers -Lewis had 117 yards or it took him 31 carries to do so.
Take your pick, Lewis did play pretty well and could have been the main factor in the Browns win as he enabled them to move the ball and avoid the catastrophic error.
6) I would have liked to seen more of Jerome Harrison though, especially after the game he had against the Bengals.
Harrison finished with 21 yards on only eight carries.
Wouldn't the Browns' ground attack perhaps have been even more effective with Lewis carrying 22 times and Harrison 15 or 16 times?
I think the different styles would have worked and could have helped either one of the pair crack open a big run...
7) Perhaps the weather conditions helped a lot, but I thought Eric Wright and especially Mike Adams played very well.
Adams had some excellent plays covering punts as well, once placing the ball down at the Buffalo one-yard line.
8) Give Dave Zastadil credit for the win as well.
The punter constantly battled the wind and was able to consistently keep the Bills backed up and
in poor field position.
Between Zastadil and Billy Cundiff, one could argue the Browns kicking game was the biggest factor in the win.
9) Kamerion Wimbley took advantage of a depleted Bills o-line for one of his biggest games with a sack, five solo tackles, and five assists.
I don't think that Wimbley will ever be an elite rusher, but he could be a pretty good one if his play continues at this level.
10) The Bills kept Josh Cribbs under control on special teams, but one has to love the leadership that Cribbs always shows on the sidelines.
The camera constantly showed Cribbs encouraging teammates and keeping the team as up as it can be.
Cribbs has to be the team's spiritual leader, there can be no doubt about that.
11) All that said, I see no way that the Browns go into Pittsburgh and defeat the Steelers this week.
Enjoy the win!
Back later or tomorrow with the death of Lou Albano and the Seahawks reviewing the tape.
Photo Credit-Mike Croll-AP Photo
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