Resilient Browns set to regroup

With only four games left, the Browns need to avoid their first losing streak Sunday in New York.

BEREA (AP) — As disastrous as it seemed at the time, the Cleveland Browns’ 34-7 season-opening loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers had a silver lining.

The Browns discovered a resilience they’ve relied on all season, and will be counting on again Sunday when they travel to face the New York Jets.

The Browns haven’t lost consecutive games this season, which is quite a transformation for a team that had gone four years without back-to-back wins until breaking the string in October.

“We just all believe in each other,” right tackle Kevin Shaffer said Friday. “You’re not going to win every game and you can’t do anything about the past. All you can do is something about the future. And our future right now is this game, Sunday, versus New York.”

The Browns played their sloppiest game since the opener last week in Arizona. They committed four turnovers that led to 21 points and were penalized 10 times in Arizona’s 27-21 win. The loss dropped the Browns to 7-5 and into a tie with the Tennessee Titans for the second and final AFC wild-card playoff spot.

With four games left, the Browns can’t afford their first losing streak.

“A lot of people don’t have these opportunities,” linebacker Antwan Peek said. “We have to seize this moment. We gotta keep pushing and do what we’ve been doing to win the games that we’ve won.”

The bounce-back principle was first evident in Week 2. The Browns held a players-only meeting following the debacle versus Pittsburgh, rallied behind new quarterback Derek Anderson and outscored the Cincinnati Bengals 51-45.

“From the first week, we all believed in us, believed in the system,” Shaffer said. “We still had great confidence and felt we had momentum going into the second game.”

The Browns proved their resilience wasn’t a fluke by recovering from difficult losses to Oakland, New England and Pittsburgh to win in Weeks 4, 6 and 11.

“Our confidence level stays high,” center Hank Fraley said. “We trust in each other. We know we stubbed our toe, but let’s just get back on the right track. “We know we’re a better team than the week before. We screwed up last week, let’s make it right this week.”

Anderson has been the engine in the team’s turnaround since replacing Charlie Frye in the first half of the opener, but he struggled against the Cardinals. He threw two interceptions and lost a fumble in the first half, leading to a 14-0 hole the Browns couldn’t escape.

It’s his job to keep the train headed in the right direction.

“You can’t let what happened last week carry over to this week,” he said. “It will be fine. We’ve bounced back before. “We’ve had bad games and guys are willing to come in and keep preparing and correct those mistakes.”