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Arizona Cardinals running back and former Ohio State standout Beanie Wells (26) is upended by Cleveland Browns free safety Mike Adams (20) and D’Qwell Jackson (52) in the second half Sunday’s NFL game in Glendale, Ariz. The Browns gave up a 10-point lead and fell to the Cardinals, 20-17, in overtime.
Browns falter down the stretch, lose to Cardinals in overtime
By TONY GROSSI
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Glendale, ariz.
The sound of doom stalking the Browns can be like a time bomb tick-tick-ticking away. It’s there, messing with your mind, and it doesn’t go away.
Through four quarters, the Browns had done a number on the Arizona Cardinals’ sterling playmakers — return specialist Patrick Peterson and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Peterson, the rookie with four punt returns for touchdowns, had handled only three of Brad Maynard’s punts, fair-catching one and gaining merely a yard on two others. Fitzgerald, the league’s best receiver, had only two catches for 33 yards.
The problem was the Browns let the Cardinals erase a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and send the game into overtime. That is when Peterson and Fitzgerald stamped their marks on the game and won it for the Cardinals, 20-17.
Peterson’s 32-yard punt return after the Browns’ first possession gave the Cardinals the ball at the Browns’ 40. Three plays later, Fitzgerald faked and cut Dimitri Patterson in circles, sped past the Browns’ secondary, and delivered a John Skelton pass 32 yards to the 4.
“They both got loose and made plays for them,” said safety Mike Adams. “They expect those guys to do that.”
Jay Feely’s 22-yard field goal ended the game 4:04 into overtime.
Arizona’s fourth win in a row kept its NFC wild-card hopes alive at 7-7. Three of its wins have come in overtime. The Browns stumbled to 4-10 — their 10th season of double-digit losses in 13 years.
This loss was unlike the nine others this year only because Seneca Wallace was at quarterback subbing for the concussed Colt McCoy. Otherwise, the plot was similar.
“Once again, I feel like a broken record in some ways,” coach Pat Shurmur said. “Our guys fought extremely hard. We all have to get a little bit better so that we finish this thing with a victory.”
In his first start this year — and only the 19th of his career — Wallace was good through three quarters. He built a 17-7 lead on a touchdown drive on the opening possession, capped by a Peyton Hillis 1-yard run; a Phil Dawson 44-yard field goal; and an improvised throw on the run to Greg Little, who took it 76 yards for the touchdown.
But Wallace blamed himself for the offense netting only 52 yards and two first downs after the third quarter.
After the Cardinals scored their second touchdown on a Beanie Wells 5-yard run, the turning point came when Wallace suffered back-to-back sacks by linebacker O’Brien Schofield, beating the right side of the Browns’ line. On the second, Wallace lost the ball and the Cardinals recovered.
The ruling on the field was down by contact, but the Cardinals challenged and won a reversal, giving Arizona possession at the Browns’ 5. The defense held, however, as Jabaal Sheard’s sack on first down limited the damage to a game-tying field goal.
Wallace’s next possessions ended in a punt, a punt, and then, in overtime, the punt.
“I take responsibility for that,” Wallace said of the offensive clampdown. “I have to make sure that I execute and get guys in the right spots. We did some things down the stretch that shouldn’t happen and aren’t characteristic of our offense.”
Wallace finished the game 18-of-31 for 226 yards, one touchdown and a passer rating of 91.6.
The Browns won the coin toss in overtime (and at the start of the game), but had to punt after making one first down on a Wallace scramble of 15 yards. Punting from inside his 20, Maynard said he wanted to kick the ball as close to the sideline as possible. But it went down the middle, 38 yards.
“I kicked to him [Peterson] one too many times,” Maynard said.