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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Michael Pittman never complained when he was
replaced as Arizona's starting running back just before the season
opener by first-round draft pick Thomas Jones. He just waited for
another chance.
On Sunday, Pittman was back, and so was the Cardinals' running
game.
|  | | Cardinals QB Jake Plummer hasn't thrown any interceptions in his last two games. He threw 24 last season. |
The power back with the bulging biceps rushed for 107 yards on
16 carries as Arizona rallied from an early 14-0 deficit to beat
the Cleveland Browns 29-21.
"Just give me a chance, baby," Pittman said. "That's all I
ask."
In the two full games he has had as an NFL starter, Pittman
gained 133 yards in a victory over Detroit last season and 107 in
Sunday's triumph over the Browns.
"Michael is an emotional player, and emotional players are
contagious," Arizona coach Vince Tobin said.
Jake Plummer, in his steadiest game of the season, completed 17
of 30 passes for 171 yards, including touchdown passes of 53 and 5
yards to Frank Sanders. He was not intercepted. Plummer, who threw
24 interceptions last season, hasn't thrown any in his last two
games.
"There have been some real bonehead plays that I'm trying to
eliminate," he said. "I'm just trying to play quarterback the way
you are supposed to play it."
Cary Blanchard added field goals of 36, 47 and 28 yards as the
Cardinals (2-3) scored on five consecutive possessions in the
second and third quarters to take a 26-14 lead.
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TOM DONAHOE'S BREAKDOWN |
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The Browns jumped out to a big lead in this game, but Jake Plummer -- who has struggled this season -- came through with a big performance to bring the Cardinals back.
Arizona's defense stepped up much better than it had in recent weeks. And, despite a couple of turnovers, the Cardinals put together two very good quarters on offense.
Earlier this week, Michael Pittman was named the Cards' starting running back and had a strong debut (16 carries, 107 yards).
The Cards have played in spurts this season, and they did a little of that today.
But they were a very impressive football team in the second and third quarters -- and that's what won this game.
Tom Donahoe, ESPN.com's NFL analyst, was formerly the Steelers' director of football operations.
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Cleveland (2-4) lost its third in a row.
Rookie Travis Prentice, starting in place of injured Errict
Rhett, rushed for 97 yards in 28 carries and scored all of the
Browns' touchdowns on runs of 1, 1 and 6 yards. Prentice had 56
yards on 13 carries in the first quarter.
Tobin called it his team's best offensive game of the season.
The defense wasn't bad either. Two of the three Browns' touchdowns
were set up by fumbles, one on a kickoff return and one on a punt.
"What a tremendous bunch of battlers. They didn't get
discouraged when it would have been very easy to get discouraged,"
Tobin said, "because we're a 1-3 football team and falling behind
at home 14-0. There would be an awful lot of teams that would have
thrown up their tail and tossed it in, and they didn't do that.
That's certainly something to build on."
Mac Cody muffed a fair catch attempt of a Cleveland punt and the
Browns' Lenoy Jones recovered at the Cardinals' 24. Three plays
later, Prentice scored on a 6-yard run to cut the lead to 26-21
with 12:43 to go.
Pass interference and roughing the passer penalties, both on
third down, kept Arizona's final scoring drive alive. Pittman's
19-yard run set up Blanchard's 28-yard field goal that made it
29-21 with three minutes to go.
"I'm upset about this game because we were in a situation
where, if we play smart football, you get a chance to win the
game," Browns coach Chris Palmer said. "If we don't make those
two penalties, we would have got the ball back and had a chance to
win the game."
In all, four third-down penalties kept Arizona scoring drives
alive in the game. A holding penalty also nullified a long run by
quarterback Tim Couch the last time the Browns had the ball.
Arizona entered the game ranked 30th in rushing out of 31 NFL
teams. Cleveland was 28th. But the Cardinals outgained the Browns
on the ground 146-104.
Couch completed 16 of 22 passes but for only 138 yards and no
touchdowns.
"They didn't blitz at all," Couch said. "It was the exact
opposite of what we had prepared for. I was expecting them to come
after me all day, but they played exactly different."
In the second quarter, MarTay Jenkins, whose fumbled kickoff set
up Cleveland's second touchdown, returned the next one 44 yards to
the Browns' 42. Pittman ran 20 yards and Plummer completed two
short passes before Jones, in his first carry as a non-starter,
went 10 yards up the middle to make it 14-7.
On the Cardinals' next possession, Plummer threw over the middle
to wide-open Sanders, who crashed his way into the end zone on a
53-yard play. However, holder Scott Player couldn't handle the snap
and the Browns still led 14-13 with 9:08 left in the half.
Arizona took the lead at 16-14 on Blanchard's 36-yard field goal
with 1:13 to go in the half at the end of a 13-play, 54-yard drive
that consumed 6:18. Cleveland's Phil Dawson missed a 42-yard field
goal with seven seconds left in the half.
Game notes
Plummer was sacked once and has been sacked just five times
all season. ... The Cardinals' offense has not scored a
first-quarter touchdown in 22 games. ... Arizona's 26-point spurt
was its most consecutive points since scoring 31 against Washington
on Nov. 22, 1998. ... Cleveland defensive back Marquis Smith had
two penalties that kept Arizona scoring drives alive, one for
slapping an offensive player in the head and the other for pass
interference. ... Sanders jammed his shoulder on his second TD
catch but said he thought he'd be ready for next week's game
against Philadelphia.
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ALSO SEE
NFL Scoreboard
Cleveland Clubhouse
Arizona Clubhouse
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