The Browns were waiting to see if one of their backup quarterbacks would step
up and emerge and that might have happened it Buffalo.
Derek Anderson came in under pressure and he came through in leading the
Browns to a 20-17 preseason win over the Bills as Jeff Chandler kicked a 35-yard
field goal as time expired.
Anderson came into the game with the scored tied at 10 and made some big
throws and put 10 points on the board in the Browns’ final two drives in the
win. He finished 4-of-7 for 83 yards, including a touchdown.
Anderson
came in after an interception by Justin Hamilton and hit Frisman Jackson on a
23-yard pass play. Anderson
then hit Josh Cribbs on a 28-yard post pattern for a touchdown to give the
Browns a 17-10 lead. Anderson
was 2-of-2 for 51 yards on the first drive, including the touchdown.
The Bills answered the Browns touchdown by moving down the field and scoring
a touchdown with 2:08 to play to make it 17-17. A 56-yard pass play from Nall to
George Wilson was the big play setting up a three-yard run by Lionel Gates.
The Browns came right back with Anderson at quarterback. He hit Kendrick Mosley for 24 yards and Jerome Harrison made a couple big runs on the drive. The
biggest was with 13 seconds to play when he appeared to be stopped for no gain
and he bounced outside for 16 yards to take the ball to the Bills’ 18. After a
muffled snap, Chandler
kicked the game winner. Harrison finished with
70 yards rushing on nine carries, while Mosley led the Browns receivers with two
receptions for 45 yards.
Other than the Browns’ 10 points with
Anderson
at quarterback, the Browns started quickly with the first team offense. After
taking the opening kickoff the Browns took 6:59 off the clock as Charlie Frye
led the Browns downfield for a touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead. Frye was 6–of-6
for yards, including a two-yard touchdown pass to Steve Heiden.
On the drive, Joe Jurevicius and Braylon Edwards had big receptions on third
downs to keep the drive going. The Browns were 3-of-3 on third down conversions.
“We had a good first drive,” Romeo Crennel said. “We missed some
opportunities after that.”
After the first drive, the Browns couldn’t put any more points on the board.
On their last possession of the half, Phil Dawson tried a 56-yard field goal
attempt which was short.
In the second quarter, Frye hit Kellen Winslow on a third down conversion to
keep a drive going. Frye finished 12–of-16 for 76 yards, including one
touchdown.
On the Bills’ second series, J.P. Losman hit Peerless Price for a 54-yard
touchdown pass to make it 7-7 with just 10 seconds left in the first quarter.
Matt Stewart was blitzing untouched, but was unable to get to Losman in time and
Price beat Ralph Brown for the score. Brown started in place of the injured Gary Baxter at cornerback.
After the Browns missed the field goal attempt before the half, the Bills
added a field goal by Rian Lindell to take a 10-7 lead.
Ken Dorsey came in at quarterback after Frye and led the Browns to a field
goal to tie the game at 10-10. Dorsey was 3-of-6 for 34 yards. The Browns field
goal came when Phil Dawson hit a 46-yarder after previously missing a 51-yard
attempt. However, the Bills had 12 men on the field and
Dawson
received the second chance.