Browns Stay on Ground; Byner and Mack Run Over Buffalo in a 17-7 Victory

After being virtually shut out in the first half Sunday, Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack got the Buffalo Bills on the run.

Byner ran for 109 yards, all in the second half, and Mack added 94 yards as the Cleveland Browns snapped a four-game losing streak with a 17-7 victory over the Bills.

“When the offense isn’t going too well, I think it’s up to me and Kevin to get us moving,” Byner said. “I personally took it upon my shoulders.”

The Browns (5-6) who scored a total of 26 points in their three previous games, trailed, 7-3, at halftime.

But Byner’s four-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter gave Cleveland a 10-7 lead. Rookie quarterback Bernie Kosar clinched the victory with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Ozzie Newsome with 2:11 left.

Kosar, who completed 12 of 25 passes for 103 yards, directed a seven-play drive for the fourth-quarter touchdown after Browns’ cornerback Frank Minnifield intercepted a pass by Bills’ quarterback Bruce Mathison at the Buffalo 41.

“We threw downfield a little in the second half and, even though we had a long touchdown called back because of a penalty, I think that helped us stretch out the defense,” Kosar said. “It opened up things for Kevin and Earnest and helped us take the pressure off the offensive line.”

Buffalo (2-9) lost despite a solid performance by Mathison, who completed 15 of 30 passes for 177 yards with two fourth-quarter interceptions in his second pro start.

“I thought Bruce threw the ball well, but I think he made some poor choices toward the end of the game,” Buffalo Coach Hank Bullough said. “He was pressing and trying to do it all, and that’s a matter of youth.”

Matt Bahr kicked a 40-yard field goal on Cleveland’s first possession of the game, but Mathison completed all five of his passes on the Bills’ ensuing 73-yard drive to set up Booker Moore’s one-yard touchdown run for a 7-3 Buffalo lead.

Byner carried the ball just once for no gain in the first half. Mack had 41 yards rushing in the first half.

The Bills were hampered by injuries to running backs Greg Bell and Joe Cribbs. Bell, slowed by a sprained knee, did not enter the game until the fourth quarter, after Cribbs left the game with a pulled muscle.

Cribbs carried the ball 18 times for 52 yards.

Mathison, who was a backup quarterback for Nebraska and the San Diego Chargers before the Bills signed him in September, was sharp in the first half, completing 9 of 12 passes for 109 yards.