• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Browns look to rebound against Jets

Dec 9, 2007 - 12:37 PM Cleveland (7-5) at NY Jets (3-9) 4:15 pm EST

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- The Cleveland Browns' playoff push ran into a road block last week in Arizona. Now, they will learn how well they can respond to adversity.

The Browns look to get back on track Sunday, when they visit the New York Jets, who are coming off their best performance of the season, albeit against the winless Miami Dolphins.

Cleveland probably could afford one stumble, but it may not be able to survive another slip. Last week's 27-21 loss to the Cardinals dropped the Browns into a tie with Tennessee in the race for the AFC's second wild card.

Their remaining schedule is favorable. After this week, the Browns have home games remaining against Buffalo and San Francisco and a road contest at Cincinnati.

"We're still in decent position," coach Romeo Crennel said. "The thing that we have to do is play better football. If we play better football, we'll give ourselves a chance."

Cleveland fell into an early 14-0 hole against Arizona and could not overcome four turnovers - two of which led to the Cardinals' first 14 points.

Still, the Browns can feel encouraged about the fact that they still had a chance to win in the final minute before suffering just their second loss in the last seven games.

Derek Anderson, who has led the Browns to four come-from-behind wins this season, nearly pulled out a miracle victory.

He completed a 47-yard "Hail Mary" pass to Kellen Winslow in the end zone on the game's final play. However, the officials ruled Winslow caught the ball out of bounds and video replay confirmed the decision on the field.

The Browns are just 2-4 on the road.

"I think this team has some resiliency," Crennel said. "They have shown they can bounce back. They've shown they will fight to the end, just like did in the game Sunday down there at the goal line."

The Jets took advantage of five turnovers by Miami quarterback John Beck - three interceptions and two fumbles - to rout the Dolphins, 40-13.

Two of New York's three wins this season have come against Miami. The other was a surprising overtime victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Kellen Clemens had an average day for the Jets, completing 15-of-24 passes for 236 yards. Still, he improved to 2-2 since replacing Chad Pennington as New York's starter.