Cleveland—The Browns had a couple of things they wanted to accomplish against
the Lions, besides winning the game. First, they wanted to establish some
consistency with the offense, particularly the first team.
Mission accomplished, well—sort of.
On the first series, the Browns moved the ball 24 yards, picking up a couple of
first downs before Charlie Frye threw an ill-advised pass into a crowd and had
it intercepted by Dre Bly..
On the second drive, the Browns moved 67 yards in 10 plays in 5:25. Frye hit
Dennis Northcutt for a five-yard touchdown for the score. Frye set up in the
shotgun and the snap bounced to him, but after nearly getting sacked, Frye
eluded the rusher and stepped up in the pocket and rifled the ball between two
Lions defenders for the score.
“Offensively, we were playing with more confidence and better precision,” Romeo
Crennel said. “We hurt ourselves with turnovers and that’s something we have to
improve on.
Oh, bye the way the Browns won 20-16 as the Browns scored 10 consecutive points
in the fourth quarter to pull out the win and capture the Great Lakes Classic,
improving their preseason record to 1-1. The Lions also evened their record at
1-1.
The Browns held on for the win as the Lions were at the Browns seven-yard line
when time ran out as the Lions’ quarterback Josh McCown tried in vain to spike
the ball to kill the clock.
The Browns had some big plays on their first touchdown drive. Reuben Droughns
started the drive with a 27-yard run. Harrison went in with the first team
to replace Droughns and had a 12-yard run up the middle on a draw play. He had
another 9-yard run. Rookie fullback Lawrence Vickers had a two-yard run as he
dove for a first down on third-and-one to set up the touchdown play.
On the third series, Joe Andruzzi was beaten by James Hall, who hit Frye’s arm
as he was trying to throw and it was ruled a fumble recovered by LeVar Woods. After a challenge by the Browns, the call stood and the Lions took over
on the Browns’ 15.
It took the Lions no time to convert the turnover into a touchdown as Jon Kitna
hit Kevin Jones for the score on the third play. The PAT tied it at 7-7 with
14:21 to play in the second quarter.
The first team came back out for the fourth series and played into the second
quarter. Frye hit Kellen Winslow on third-and-nine for 15 yards and a first
down.
Frye finished 8-of-11 for 41 yards, including one touchdown and one interception
and a sack. He also ran once for nine yards. Droughns rushed seven times for 44
yards.
Kitna hit Roy Williams for a 45-yard gain as he beat Ralph Brown and Brian Russell to set up the Lions’ second score, a 22-yard field goal by Matt Prater
to give the Lions a 10-7 lead.
“Defensively, we were into the game and we only gave up one pass play, which
hurt us down in their red zone,” Crennel said.
After the Lions score, Ken Dorsey had the Browns in the hurry up and moved the
ball to the Lions’15 before stalling. Phil Dawson kicked a 32-yard field goal
with 13 seconds to play to tie the game at 10-10. The Browns went 13 plays in
2:04, covering 63 yards. On the drive, Dorsey was 9-of-13 for 65 yards,
including a long of 12 yards. He was sacked once.
The Lions added two field goals by Prater to take a 16-10 in the third quarter.
The Browns took the lead early in the fourth quarter as Derek Anderson
engineered a nine play, 78-yard drive that took 5:02 to give the Browns a 17-16
lead. Anderson hit Harrison for a 31-yard touchdown for the score.
Jeff Chandler finished the Browns scoring as he nailed a 33-yard field goal to
make the final score, 20-16.