The Cleveland Browns weathered the storm. The Buffalo Bills did not. It was really that simple as the Browns moved one step closer to a Wild Card playoff berth and kept their AFC North Division title hopes alive with an ugly 8-0 win over the Bills in almost constant blizzard conditions this afternoon at Cleveland Stadium.

I would like to say that the snow storm prevented these teams from doing what they would normally do, thus affecting an “honest outcome” in this game. And to an extent, that is true. But the fact is both teams had to play in the poor conditions and the team that handled the adversity better won.

It was a mess out there. CBS’ field level camera shots throughout the game gave a better indication of just how awful it was. Blowing, oftentimes heavy snow made visibility and footing extremely unpredictable. But it was a surprisingly well-played game considering the elements. There were no turnovers and each team only committed two penalties each. And all things considered, it was very evenly played except for the rushing yardage. I said each team’s running game would be vital under these conditions and that turned out to be true. I also said Jamal Lewis could get 35 carries today. Close. In reality, Jamal Lewis had 33 carries for 163 yards. And that really was the difference as Cleveland controlled the clock in the second half and held off a late Buffalo rally to get the win.

This is a crushing blow to the Bills’ playoff hopes. Now at 7-7, they have been eliminated from any chance of a postseason spot. With Pittsburgh losing to Jacksonville, though, the Browns are now looking at the possibility of something more than a Wild Card spot.

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Cleveland Browns Beat Buffalo Bills, Blizzard to Move Closer to AFC Playoff Berth

Cleveland Browns fans are still buzzing over the final play of a 27-21 loss to Arizona yesterday. Many felt that Kellen Winslow Jr.’s leaping catch just outside of the endzone (which was an amazing catch by the way) should have been called a force-out when he collided with AZ DBs Antrel Rolle and Oliver Celestin, thus counting the score and tying the game. Even NBC Sports’ Cris Collinsworth said he felt the Browns were robbed of the victory when officials ruled Jr. out-of-bounds. I beg to differ. I hate the force-out rule, anyway. It turns reality into a judgment call and there’s no place for it in the NFL. I hope the league give serious consideration to removing it in the upcoming offseason. Kellen didn’t come down in-bounds, therefore it’s not a touchdown. Case closed. But you will see occasions where an official says the receiver would have come down in-bounds had he not been pushed out while airborne. The fact remains, he didn’t come down in-bounds, so he’s out-of-bounds. Period. It’s really something simple made difficult.

This play is not the reason the Browns lost the game, though. Head coach Romeo Crennel knows it and he said so during his Monday presser:

“I think this team has some resiliency. They have shown they can bounce back. They’ve shown they will fight to the end, just like they did in the game Sunday down there on the goal line. These guys will fight. We just have to get them to be more consistent and not give yards away, give plays away like we did yesterday. We just didn’t play smart football.”

The Browns gave it away, alright. They turned the ball over four times and were penalized 10 times for 77 yards, including a delay-of-game for kicking the ball, a horse collar tackle, an unnecessary roughness on a hit out-of-bounds and a head-butt that cost them 15 yards on the final drive. This is not playoff caliber football and if the Browns want to make it to the postseason, they’ll need to clean-up a lot of the errors that cost them a win at Arizona yesterday.

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Cleveland Browns Need to Clean-up Mistakes

I guess Romeo Crennel knew what he was doing after all. A week ago, after stinking up Cleveland Browns stadium in an embarrassing 34-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, I felt there was no other sensible choice for the Browns’ head coach except to start Brady Quinn at quarterback. “Ultimately, the Cleveland Browns are just wasting their time until they get Brady Quinn into the starting lineup,” I said. It looked like it was going to be another forgettable season in Cleveland. Why not let Brady take his lumps and get some experience? I guess I was wrong.

An entirely new Browns team (figuratively) showed up this week (at least on offense) en route to a stunning 51-45 win over the defenseless (literally) Cincinnati Bengals. And leading the way was QB Derek Anderson who completed 20 passes for 328 yards and five TDs.

Both Cleveland and Cincinnati are now 1-1, but the Bengals have bigger problems. For a team that was supposed to contend for the AFC title, their defense is a long way from being good, giving up over 550 yards of total offense yesterday. I wonder how Bengals QB Carson Palmer feels? He threw six TDs in a losing effort.

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Derek Anderson Puts Cleveland Browns Quarterback Controversy to Rest — For Now

Ultimately, the Cleveland Browns are just wasting their time until they get Brady Quinn into the starting lineup. That was pretty evident today as they lost their season-opener — at home — to arch rival Pittsburgh, 34-7. Yes, it was every bit as ugly as the score indicated. Charlie Frye started the game for Cleveland. He finished 4 of 10 for 34 yards and a pick. Derek Anderson replaced him and went 13 of 28 for 184 yards with a TD and an INT. But their season will be a waste of time until the QB of their future starts taking some snaps.

Now, I must assert that the QB position is not the only problem for the Browns. In the opening remarks of his postgame press conference, head coach Romeo Crennel said:

“For a home opener, we didn’t do very well. We didn’t play very good at all. There’s no explanation that I can give you for it because we felt like that going in we were in a positive mindframe. We thought we had improved as a team and gotten better. And didn’t we go out there and … well, you saw the results ….. We’re not good enough to overcome as deep a hole as we dug for ourselves ….. Turnovers, sacks, drops, touchdown passes we gave up — all of those things make the final score what it is.”

At ClevelandBrowns.com, a fan poll asks “What hurt the Browns most during Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh?” a.) Sacks and pressure, b.) Turnovers, c.) Penalties, d.) Allowing big plays. My answer was not allowed. All of the above.

A quarterback change is not a fix-all for this team, but if Brady Quinn is the future of your franchise, he’s going to need to get in the game and take his lumps just like Peyton Manning did his rookie season. And you know how that story has played out.

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Cleveland Browns Should Start Brady Quinn

Cleveland Browns rookie QB Brady Quinn looked sharp in his preseason debut against the Detroit Lions last night. After missing 11 days of training camp, Brady had a lot of catching up to do. He didn’t play in the first preseason game. And although he entered this game late in the 4th quarter, he nearly rallied the Browns to victory with two late touchdown passes. His final stats were 13-of-20 for 155 yards in the final 9:20. Before Browns’ fans get too excited, though, we must remember a couple things:

• Brady was playing with a limited offensive playbook
• He was not playing against the Lions’ first-teamers (of course, he did not have a first-team supporting case, either).

Brady sounded cautiously optimistic after the game:

“I was trying to do my best to stay calm. It felt good to cross the lines and play. Hopefully I’ll get better and better. I’d been holding a clipboard for one game and three quarters. It’s been tough to wait it out.”

So, I’d say — all things considered — a job well-done. It will be interesting to see if Brady gets more playing time next weekend at Denver. I still believe Derek Anderson (6 of 8 for 65 yards and a pick against the Lions) holds the upper hand in this three-QB race (with Charlie Frye being the third quarterback; Ken Dorsey most likely will be the odd-man-out), but Brady will ultimately be the starter. It’s just a matter of when.

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Brady Quinn Sharp in Preseason Debut

At 6-2 and 229 pounds, Hall ran a very impressive 4.3-40, had 19 reps on the 225-bench, registered a 37.5″ vert, ran the short shuttle in 4.13 and caught everything thrown at him by QB Troy Smith. So, if you were asking, “Who is Roy Hall?” now you know. Check out his Pro Day highlight video at sparqtraining.com.

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Who is Roy Hall?