BEREA - The Browns offense doesn’t want to be lumped in with Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Norman Greenbaum and Lipps, Inc.

“You don’t want to be like a one-hit wonder,” coach Eric Mangini said Wednesday. “You have to go out and do it the next week.”

After nine games of record-low numbers, the Browns erupted for 37 points Sunday in a one-point loss to Detroit. It will be considered a fluke until they can duplicate the success.

The world’s still waiting for follow-up hits to Dexy Midnight Runners’ “Come on Eileen,” Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” and Lipps, Inc.’s “Funkytown.”

The Browns, who play at Cincinnati (7-3) on Sunday, are optimistic that last week was a sign of things to come.

“It reminded me of 2007 where you’re throwing down the field, they’re catching it, we’re protecting, we got the running game going,” left guard Eric Steinbach said. “If we could ride that out the next six weeks, it’d be nice.”

“I always think we’re turning corners and making progress every week,” quarterback Brady Quinn said.

The 37 points, 314 passing yards, 131 rushing yards and 53 percent conversion rate on third down were reminiscent of the 10-6 season in 2007, when the Browns scored 402 points and sent four offensive players to the Pro Bowl.

But the outburst Sunday came against the Lions (2-8), whose defense ranks last in points and passing yards and 31st in total yardage. Quinn’s first four starts this year came against the difficult defenses of Minnesota, Denver and Baltimore twice.

“It played obviously a bit of a role,” said Quinn, who threw for a career-high 304 yards, four touchdowns and 133.1 rating, “but I think the execution was better on our part and the things we did.”

The Browns averaged 8.7 through nine games, and were on pace to score the fewest points in NFL history in a 16-game season. After Detroit, they’re 30th in scoring (11.5 a game) and 31st in total yardage (236.8) and passing yardage (135.4).

Despite only five offensive touchdowns in nine games, Mangini consistently pointed to turnovers and mistakes - rather than talent and game-plan deficiencies - as the problem.

The production against Detroit gave credence to his belief.

“It’s a huge, huge difference in what can happen offensively when you don’t turn the ball over,” he said. “You start chipping away at those things, those self-inflicted wounds, where you’re stopping yourself and now you’re going to move the ball.”

The Browns also did a better job in protection, allowing just one sack, which allowed them to stretch the field with deep passes. They also threw the ball more accurately and caught it more securely.

“What I was really happy with is the plays that were there to be made, we made them,” Mangini said. “It was a nice use of different tools by Brady and the receivers and taking advantage of some of the things they gave us

“Those are all things that we’ve done, we just haven’t done them to our capacity. I was encouraged. I think they were all encouraged.”

For weeks Mangini has been referring to the “tools” Quinn has at his disposal. But receiver Mohamed Massaquoi’s been streaky and plagued by drops, and Chansi Stuckey hadn’t materialized as the third-down slot receiver he was with the Jets.

That changed Sunday, as Massaquoi caught five passes for 115 yards with a 59-yard touchdown and Stuckey broke through with five catches for 76 yards and a 40-yard score.

“The offensive line did a great job and Brady was very confident in the pocket and confident throwing the ball and did a great job,” said Stuckey, who had one catch in four previous games and missed one with a calf injury. “We didn’t give them any turnovers, were catching the ball well, everyone was in the right place at the right time. Everything started clicking a little bit.”

It all started with Quinn, who is 0-5 as a starter this season. He bounced back from a career-worst game (99 yards, 23.5 rating) on Monday night against the Ravens, which included a low hit on Terrell Suggs that knocked Suggs out for several weeks.

“You have to put stuff like that behind you,” Quinn said. “It’s obviously tough coming off a loss at home like that, especially on Monday night. But again, when you have one less day to prepare, you’ve gotta kind of put it out of your mind and get going for the next opponent.”

The Bengals and Lions might be from the same animal kingdom, but their defenses are different species. The Bengals rank 10th in defense (310.5 yards a game) and are third in points allowed (16.7). They have a good pair of cornerbacks in Leon Hall and Johnathan Joseph, who will test the young Browns receivers

“They’re really making plays in key situations,” Quinn said. “All across the board, they are talented.”

Which could make validating the performance against the Lions difficult.

“I don’t think we have to prove nothing to nobody but ourselves,” running back Jamal Lewis said.

Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

---

Print this story
Report an innappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment. If you aren't already registered, click here.
If you are registered, click here to log in.
Need help? Email Us.