Cribbs ready to say Aloha

The Browns’ speedy
kick-return specialist hopes to streak in the Pro Bowl.

GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

Let the last be first.

The Browns, who had fewer Pro Bowlers than any other team this decade — one — should be the first to touch the ball Sunday if the AFC wins the coin toss.

NFC kickoff man Nick Folk of Dallas would boom the football to Joshua Cribbs.

Folk had only four touchbacks in 2007, and touchbacks are nowhere in Cribbs’ Pro Bowl game plan.

The third-year Cleveland Brown was first by a wide margin over most challengers in the craft that got him to Hawaii.

He led the NFL in kick return average at 30.7 yards. Former Brown André Davis of Houston was second at 30.3, followed by Aundrae Allison of Minnesota at 28.7. NFC Pro Bowler Devin Hester, who like Cribbs will return both punts and kickoffs Sunday, averaged 21.7 yards.

Cribbs’ return average would have been 31.8 had a holding call not cost him a touchdown in the season finale against San Francisco.

His actual final of 30.7 was sparkling enough. It was the best final average the NFL has seen since 1985, when Ron Brown posted 32.7 for the Los Angeles Rams. Brown did it on 28 returns, whereas Cribbs had 59.

Cribbs’ 1,809 kick return yards were way out front.

The next two were San Francisco’s Maurice Hicks at 1,502 and Miami’s Ted Ginn at 1,433.

On punt returns, a new job to Cribbs, he finished third in the NFL with a 13.5 average. Buffalo’s Roscoe Parrish (16.3) and Hester (15.5) were ahead of him.

Cribbs kept his return average in the rare air of 30-plus long after kickoff units began treating him like the plague.

“Josh is quick, and he reads the ball in the air real well,” Browns special teams coach Ted Daisher said. “He gets to a lot of the kicks. It’s really hard to do that.”

Cribbs wants a big Pro Bowl to make the Browns look good, to help his career and for a few dollars more.

He is quick to point out that Sunday’s winners’ share is $40,000 a man, double what the losers will make.

“They tell me you spend everything you make in Hawaii, so it might as well be the $40,000,” Cribbs said.

Cribbs might ask the Browns for a raise.

On average, Cleveland started at the 33.4-yard line after kickoffs, best in the NFL. The Jets and Patriots were the only other teams beyond the 30.

“Josh gives you hope every time he touches the ball,” Head Coach Romeo Crennel said. “He’s really important to us.”

Crennel, who at one point in his career was Bill Parcells’ special teams coach, was asked whether he’d rather have Cribbs or the well-hyped return ace from Chicago, Hester.

“I like the guy I’ve got,” Crennel said. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t want to have Hester along with him, but the guy I’ve got is pretty good.”