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| Benjamin Watson's touchdown in the 4th quarter, helped the Browns win their 1st game of the 2012 season vs. the Bengals. |
Monday mornings are a little better, after a win. Well, then yes this is the happiest Monday I've had, in the last 12 Monday's following a Browns game, as they finally made the "winning plays" and snapped their 11-game losing skid on Sunday afternoon vs. their in-state rivals Cincinnati Bengals. The 34-24 victory over the Bengals (3-3) is the first Browns win since November 20th of last year and the first divisional win since October 3rd of 2010. A number of bad streaks were snapped yesterday, in a game that the Browns controlled after the halftime break. Following a 14 to 7 deficit at halftime, the Browns came out in the 2nd half and outscored the Bengals, 27 to 10, including a 21-point 4th quarter performance that had a number of Browns making "winning plays". A nice win for the Browns (1-5), and an even better Monday morning for Browns fans across the country. HERE WE GO BROWNS, HERE WE GO!
Offense:
Browns rookie starting QB Brandon Weeden, celebrated his 29th birthday in fine fashion, with his 1st career NFL win, over the Bengals. Weeden, who had thrown costly INT's up to this point in the season, had 231 passing yards and tossed two touchdowns. Weeden connected with WR Josh Gordon on a 71-yard bomb to knot the game at 7-7. After two possessions, in the 3rd quarter that the Browns had to settle for field goals instead of finishing the drive with a touchdown, the offense came alive in the 4th quarter. The Browns had scoring drives of 66 & 63 yards, while taking up some time of possession and capped them both with TOUCHDOWNS! The Browns rushed for 110 yards, while getting a spark from back-up RB Montario Hardesty, who ran for 56 yards, while scoring on a 1-yard leap into the end zone. Overall, the Browns offense finally played well enough in the "money" quarter to come out with the win, and the 34-point performance was the most points they have scored in a game since a 34 to 14 win over the New England Patriots in Week 9 of the 2010 season (November 7th).
Defense:
This unit forced the Bengals into four turnovers, all coming from Bengals starting QB Andy Dalton (three INTS, fumble lost). Also, contributed to the scoring with a pick-6 from veteran CB Sheldon Brown in the 4th quarter. The Browns sacked Dalton twice, and played well enough to help out the offense to preserve the Browns 1st win of the season. The Browns welcome backed, CB Joe Haden in this game, who was out the last 4-games due to suspension. Haden, recorded his 2nd INT of the season and had 7 tackles and gave the DB's a spark that they had not had the last month. Still, this defense gave up two long touchdown passes of 55 & 57 yards, while allowing Dalton to throw for three touchdowns on the day. This unit continues to play without a number of starters that are out with injuries and are doing their best with who is out there. Like, the Buckeyes defense, its tough to watch the Browns D at times, but they did plenty in this game to help out the Browns offense and pull off the teams 1st AFC North division win in over two years.
Next Week:
The Browns (1-5) look to go for back-to-back wins for the first time since Week 2 & 3 of last season, when they travel over to Indy to play Andrew Luck & the Colts (2-3) on Sunday afternoon. The Colts got hammered by the Jets this past week, 35 to 9 on the road. The Browns beat the Colts a season ago in Indy, in a 27 to 19 win back in Week 2.
Browns rookie starting QB Brandon Weeden, celebrated his 29th birthday in fine fashion, with his 1st career NFL win, over the Bengals. Weeden, who had thrown costly INT's up to this point in the season, had 231 passing yards and tossed two touchdowns. Weeden connected with WR Josh Gordon on a 71-yard bomb to knot the game at 7-7. After two possessions, in the 3rd quarter that the Browns had to settle for field goals instead of finishing the drive with a touchdown, the offense came alive in the 4th quarter. The Browns had scoring drives of 66 & 63 yards, while taking up some time of possession and capped them both with TOUCHDOWNS! The Browns rushed for 110 yards, while getting a spark from back-up RB Montario Hardesty, who ran for 56 yards, while scoring on a 1-yard leap into the end zone. Overall, the Browns offense finally played well enough in the "money" quarter to come out with the win, and the 34-point performance was the most points they have scored in a game since a 34 to 14 win over the New England Patriots in Week 9 of the 2010 season (November 7th).
Defense:
This unit forced the Bengals into four turnovers, all coming from Bengals starting QB Andy Dalton (three INTS, fumble lost). Also, contributed to the scoring with a pick-6 from veteran CB Sheldon Brown in the 4th quarter. The Browns sacked Dalton twice, and played well enough to help out the offense to preserve the Browns 1st win of the season. The Browns welcome backed, CB Joe Haden in this game, who was out the last 4-games due to suspension. Haden, recorded his 2nd INT of the season and had 7 tackles and gave the DB's a spark that they had not had the last month. Still, this defense gave up two long touchdown passes of 55 & 57 yards, while allowing Dalton to throw for three touchdowns on the day. This unit continues to play without a number of starters that are out with injuries and are doing their best with who is out there. Like, the Buckeyes defense, its tough to watch the Browns D at times, but they did plenty in this game to help out the Browns offense and pull off the teams 1st AFC North division win in over two years.
Next Week:
The Browns (1-5) look to go for back-to-back wins for the first time since Week 2 & 3 of last season, when they travel over to Indy to play Andrew Luck & the Colts (2-3) on Sunday afternoon. The Colts got hammered by the Jets this past week, 35 to 9 on the road. The Browns beat the Colts a season ago in Indy, in a 27 to 19 win back in Week 2.
