Browns set to take on Cardinals

Cleveland has won five of its last six games, 2-0 against NFC West.

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — For all its other struggles, Arizona is 2-1 against the AFC North, a division familiar to Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt.

So the high-flying Cleveland Browns can assume that today’s game against the Cardinals is no gimmee.

“It definitely helps that he knows that division,” Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel said. “I’m sure he’s looking forward to us coming out because he’s beaten Pittsburgh, and we haven’t been able to do that. He’s beaten Cincinnati.”

Whisenhunt, Pittsburgh’s offensive coordinator before coming to Arizona this season, brushes aside suggestions his former ties to the AFC North have led to the Cardinals’ non-conference success.

“I don’t know that that has anything to do with it,” he said. “I think we’ve been close in a number of games this year, in fact every game, and it’s just in those that we made enough plays to win.”

The Browns have done just fine against the NFC West, too, going 2-0 with victories over St. Louis and Seattle. Cleveland has won five of six to go to 7-4, a game behind first-place Pittsburgh in the division.

The team’s performance has turned loose some of the most rabid fans in football to finally cheer on a successful Browns team again. The players are trying to avoid the hoopla, though, quarterback Derek Anderson said.

“This is a football town, and it means a lot to the people of the city,” he said. “We’re just trying to focus in, taking it one week at a time and really not going there with that right now.”

The Cardinals (5-6) are just one game out of the wild-card spot in the mediocre NFC, but they’re coming off arguably their worst loss of the season, 37-31 in overtime at home to a San Francisco team that had lost eight in a row.

“We’re definitely going to learn from that,” Arizona defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said. “I can tell by the bitter looks, the way people are looking in practice. We’ve got to correct these little things to get where we want to get.”

Arizona’s defense has been depleted by the loss of cornerback Eric Green and Pro Bowl safety Adrian Wilson to season-ending injuries. That could open up things for Anderson, who threw for 253 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception, in last weekend’s 27-17 home victory over Houston.