PRO FOOTBALL : Browns Throttle the Bengals, 34-3, to Claim AFC Central Title Again

The Cleveland Browns gave the Cincinnati Bengals a lesson in the NFL’s most basic fact--offense looks pretty but defense wins championships.

The Browns did just that Sunday, winning their second consecutive AFC Central title with a dominating 34-3 win over the Bengals in a head-to-head showdown that left them at 11-4, tied with Denver for the best record in the conference. The Bengals (9-6) remain in contention for a wild-card spot.

Cleveland’s win not only gave it the division title, but gave it a shot at having the home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. A win over San Diego in Cleveland next week will clinch that edge.

Cleveland jumped off to a quick lead on two first-quarter bombs by Bernie Kosar, then simply smothered the NFL’s leading offense, a unit with five straight 400-yard games in which it had averaged 29 points. The Bengals, who gained 584 yards a week ago, were held to just 283.

That even surprised some of the Browns.

“I expected us to play well, but who would think we would hold an offense like Cincinnati’s without a touchdown,” said cornerback Hanford Dixon, who had one of the Browns’ two interceptions.

“They’re a frightening offensive football team. We were just relentless today,” said Cleveland Coach Marty Schottenheimer, whose team avenged a 30-13 loss to the Bengals in the first installment of the Battle of Ohio. “In effect, what we did was save our best for near the end.”

The crowd of 58,062 at Riverfront Stadium for the division’s showdown game had barely settled in their seats when Kosar went deep on the first play from scrimmage, hitting Reggie Langhorne for 66 yards to the Cincinnati two. Two plays later, Kevin Mack went over from the one and it was 7-0 with just 1:23 gone in the game.

Then, with 1:13 left in the period, Kosar threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to Webster Slaughter to give the Browns a 14-3 lead.

“We wanted to set the tempo and I think we did that by going deep,” Kosar said. “We felt we could go after them and we wanted to attack them. We didn’t attack them in the first game.”

Then the defense took over, smothering the Bengals like they haven’t been smothered in a long time.

“When they get you down, they just step on you,” Cincinnati’s Cris Collinsworth said.

“They just outclassed us,” Bengal Coach Sam Wyche said.

After reaching the four on their first possession, the Bengals did not get inside the Cleveland 28 again until the game was out of reach.

Linebackers Chip Banks and Clay Matthews shadowed James Brooks, who was held to 43 yards in 12 carries, and harried Boomer Esiason into hurrying his throws. Esiason finished with 15 completions in 31 attempts for 151 yards.

The defense also set up the third touchdown, when Felix Wright picked off an Esiason pass at the Bengals’ 34. Six plays later, Mack, who had 93 yards in 23 carries, dove over from the one to make it 24-3. They put the game away with 1:06 left in the quarter when Curtis Dickey fumbled on the two as he was heading for the end zone and Slaughter fell on it.

Kosar finished with 13 completions in 29 attempts for 246 yards.

Cincinnati was never really in the game. On the first play from scrimmage, Kosar hit Langhorne in perfect stride on the Bengals’ 27 and he carried it to the two. On the next play, Mack fumbled but teammate Dan Fike recovered at the one. On third down, Mack went over to make it 7-0.

The Bengals then mounted what turned out to be their best drive of the game--76 yards in 11 plays to the Cleveland five. But in what was a harbinger of the future, defensive end Sam Clancy deflected Esiason’s third-down pass and Cincinnati had to settle for Breech’s 23-yard field goal that cut the lead to 7-3.

The Browns second score--the bomb to Slaughter, came on a second-and-one play. The Browns’ rookie threw a fake at cornerback Lewis Billups, leaving him lying on the ground, caught the ball all alone at the 12 and waltzed in.

Trailing, 17-3, the Bengals moved to the 28 on their first possession of the second half. But instead of letting Breech try a long field goal, they went for it on a fourth-and-6 and failed when Esiason’s pass was dropped by Eddie Brown.

Then the Browns got the two touchdowns that left no doubt--the second set up by Jeff Hayes’ shanked 18-yard punt.