Browns grind out 6-3 victory

10.11.2009

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - The wind howled. Points were at a premium, and there were punts aplenty.

Pretty? Nothing but the final result: Browns 6, Bills 3.

Style points were lacking, but 6 points were enough. The Browns got their first win of the season Sunday thanks to an 18-yard Billy Cundiff field goal with 23 seconds left.

The Browns won for the first time since last November when they beat the Bills here, 29-27, on Monday Night Football. Both teams are now 1-4.

"I lifted the monkey off Coach Mangini's back," Mike Adams said. "Literally I walked right up to him and took it right off. It feels so good to get that win. Those weeks get long after those losses."

"We talked about being able to finish a game," Mangini said. "We didn't quite get what we wanted last week, but this is what we wanted. It's nice."

It was a grind-it-out game full of missed opportunities and near misses; the Browns essentially won it in the punting game and via field position. Three beautiful Dave Zastudil punts were downed inside the Buffalo 5 -- two were downed by Adams -- and the winning drive was set up when Roscoe Parrish muffed a punt while trying to stop it from rolling. Ex-Bill Blake Costanzo recovered, and the Browns started at the Bills' 16 with just under three minutes remaining.

"Roscoe was just trying to make a big play there because he's a special player; that's what he does," Costanzo said. "My eyes got real big, I jumped on the ball and just ran off hoping we could finish it."

The Browns did by hunkering down and handing the ball to Jamal Lewis, who led all ball carriers with 117 yards on 31 carries. He went off the left side to convert a key third down inside of two minutes that allowed the Browns to kill the clock.

Lewis and the Browns thought he was in the endzone a few plays later, but being ruled short kept the clock rolling before Cundiff's game winner.

The Browns' only previous points came on a 24-yard Cundiff field goal midway through the second quarter. Rian Lindell's 36-yard field goal tied it on the first drive of the second half.

The wind affected the kicking game and the passing game for both teams. Trailing 3-0, the Bills drove inside the Browns' 25 late in the first half before penalties pushed them back to the 31. They went for it on fourth down due to the wind. Adams blasted Edwards as he threw and Brodney Pool swatted the ball away as the Browns got a big stop.

"We anticipated running it quite a bit, but the wind got worse as the game went on," Mangini said.

Zastudil had a net average of 42.9 on 9 punts and landed 7 of them inside the 20. Two of them benefited from generous rolls, but his left foot was simply magical on others.

"Dave is incredible," Costanzo said.

"I've never landed three of them inside the 5 in one game before," Zastudil said. "I'm just glad we got the win. I think last week we played too well to not win, and this week we proved that wasn't a fluke."

The Browns defense was very good for the second straight week and swarmed Bills QB Trent Edwards, sacking him twice and forcing him to throw the ball away on several occasions. Eric Wright had an interception on a deep pass intended for Terrell Owens at the Buffalo 7 late in the third quarter.

It was a rough day for both quarterbacks. Edwards was 16-of-31 for 152 yards, but the Bills were just 6-of-17 on third down. Derek Anderson's 2-of-17, 23-yard day included seven dropped passes. But Anderson wasn't hanging his head afterward.

"The running game was awesome," Anderson said. "I completed two passes and we won, so that says a lot. But they kept putting eight in the box and we were still able to run the ball, so we were going pretty good."

Said Lewis: "That's the type of football I'm used to playing."

After the winning field goal, Cundiff's kickoff went out of bounds and allowed the Bills to start at their own 40. They didn't have any timeouts, but they were essentially just one long completion from being able to attempt a long field goal to tie.

"I'd like to blame it on the wind, but I can't," Cundiff said. "I got excited. I can't do that. That could have been big and could have let our team down."

The Bills attempted a throwback screen and several laterals on the game's final play before Parrish ran out of room and the ball died in a pile of people at the Browns' 35. Eric Barton, who played an outstanding game from his inside linebacker spot, secured it and presented it to Mangini just moments after the final whistle.

The 23 passing yards is the second-lowest total in Browns history and ranks ahead of only a 1-yard day against Detroit way back in 1954. But the Browns become the second team this decade to complete just 2 passes and win; the Bengals did it back in 2000 when Corey Dillon set what was then the NFL single-game record with 278 yards rushing in a win over Denver.