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Dolphins Lose Ninth In A Row

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By RUSTY MILLER, The Associated Press

Published: October 15, 2007

CLEVELAND - Things can't get much bleaker for the Miami Dolphins.

The Cleveland Browns built an early lead and held on for a 41-31 win Sunday that handed the Dolphins a franchise-record ninth consecutive loss.

'It is humbling,' linebacker Joey Porter said. 'As a team, as a defense, we have real high expectations. But we are not playing real good football right now.'

The Browns (3-3) scored on three of their first four possessions to go up 17-3 before Leigh Bodden intercepted Cleo Lemon's pass. Quarterback Derek Anderson turned it into a 24-yard touchdown throw to Braylon Edwards on the next play.

After the Dolphins (0-6) pulled within 27-24 in the third quarter, Anderson threw his second and third TD passes of the game to Edwards to put it out of reach.

'The season is not half over,' first-year coach Cam Cameron said. 'My experience is that when you get completely sick and tired of the feeling we have right now, then things will change.'

Cleveland can go into its bye week with some peace of mind. After taking the week off, the Browns play at St. Louis in two weeks with a chance to go over .500 - a rare treat for this downtrodden franchise.

Now it's Miami fans who are hurting. The Dolphins snapped the team mark of eight consecutive losses set during the 1967 season. It was also the sixth road loss in a row for the Dolphins.

It's so bad that even the lowly Browns had to battle overconfidence.

'It's another step in the right direction, to be able to beat a team that everybody says you're supposed to beat,' Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel said. 'I talked to the guys all during the week about not underestimating these guys or taking them lightly. To be able to come out and get this win against a team that you're supposed to beat, that's a plus. You've got to be able to do that in this league.'

They were hamstrung without starting quarterback Trent Green, sidelined by a concussion suffered in last week's loss at Houston. Filling in was Lemon, who passed for two scores to tight end David Martin and ran for two more in his second career start.

'We did some positive things, just not enough,' said Lemon, who completed 24 of 43 passes for 256 yards with two interceptions.

Ronnie Brown added 101 yards on 19 carries to rack up his fourth consecutive game with more than 100 yards, becoming just the second Dolphin to pull off that feat.

The Browns also were missing a marquee name on offense. Running back Jamal Lewis, 10th in the league in rushing, sat out with a sprained right foot. His subs were more than adequate, with Jason Wright rushing for 59 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, and Jerome Harrison adding 57 yards on eight carries.

Cle-J.Wright 1 run (Dawson kick), 12:46.

Mia-FG Feely 43, 6:17.

Cle-Anderson 1 run (Dawson kick), :09.

Second Quarter

Cle-FG Dawson 40, 8:50.

Cle-Edwards 24 pass from Anderson (Dawson kick), 6:13.

Mia-Martin 14 pass from Lemon (Feely kick), 1:03.

Cle-FG Dawson 20, :00.

Third Quarter

Mia-Lemon 5 run (Feely kick), 7:57.

Mia-Lemon 1 run (Feely kick), 2:44.

Fourth Quarter

Cle-Edwards 5 pass from Anderson (Dawson kick), 10:51.

Cle-Edwards 16 pass from Anderson (Dawson kick), 4:34.

Mia-Martin 4 pass from Lemon (Feely kick), 1:34.

A-73,198

RUSHING-Miami, Brown 19-101, Lemon 4-9. Cleveland, J.Wright 20-59, Harrison 8-57, Anderson 5-13, Vickers 1-7, Cribbs 1-4.

PASSING-Miami, Lemon 24-43-2-256. Cleveland, Anderson 18-25-0-245.

RECEIVING-Miami, Brown 9-69, Chambers 6-73, Hagan 3-30, Martin 3-18, M.Booker 2-34, Ginn Jr. 1-32. Cleveland, Winslow 5-90, Edwards 5-67, J.Wright 3-39, Jurevicius 3-28, Harrison 1-15, Vickers 1-6.

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