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Recap: Browns 34, Bengals 24
Cleveland 34, Cincinnati 24: Brandon Weeden threw two touchdown passses and Montario Hardesty, filling in for an injured Trent Richardson, scored the go-ahead TD as host Cleveland ended an 11-game losing streak with an upset of Cincinnati in the “Battle of Ohio.”
Sheldon Brown returned an interception for a touchdown for Cleveland (1-5), which hadn’t won since beating Jacksonville last November. Cleveland ended a four-game skid against the Bengals and avoided a franchise-record 12th straight loss by outscoring Cincinnati 21-3 in a span bridging the third and fourth quarters.
Andy Dalton threw three scoring passes – including two to A.J. Green, who’s scored in five straight games – but the Bengals (3-3) lost to the Browns for the first time since 2010. Cincinnati has dropped two straight after winning three in a row.
Cleveland scored 13 straight points in a span of 8:30 and took a 20-14 lead on Hardesty’s 1-yard plunge at the start of the third. Hardesty was in after Richardson left in the third with a rib injury.
The surge was aided by a 60-yard punt return from Josh Cribbs and an interception by Joe Haden, who was playing his first game after serving a four-game ban for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
After Weeden’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Ben Watson made it 27-17, Brown’s 19-yard interception return for a score gave Cleveland a 34-17 lead with 7:55 left in the fourth. But it wasn’t over yet as Cincinnati answered with a 57-yard touchdown pass from Dalton to Green.
The Bengals then drove to the Cleveland 9 on their next possession before Emmanuel Stephens sacked Dalton and Billy Winn recovered the fumble, sealing the win.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Dalton was 31 of 46 for 381 yards but thew three interceptions. … The Bengals had a chance for a last-second field goal at the end of the first half after Green’s 25-yard reception, but the officials declared the half over despite the fact there appeared to be one second left when Dalton spiked the ball. … Weeden, who finished 17 of 29 for 231 yards, has thrown an NFL-worst 10 interceptions.
