Too Close for Patriots’ Comfort

Terry Glenn wasn’t perfect, and once again neither were the New England Patriots, the NFL’s most unimpressive unbeaten team.

Glenn overcame two costly first-half fumbles with a club-record 13 receptions for 214 yards and a touchdown Sunday as the Patriots won their fourth in a row, 19-7, over the Cleveland Browns.

“I just got off to a bad start,” said Glenn, who played at Ohio State and had about 50 family and friends at the game. “I was a little anxious and trying to do too much.”

Glenn redeemed himself on the first play of the fourth quarter, turning a short pass from Drew Bledsoe into a 54-yard touchdown as New England (4-0) finally pulled away from the expansion Browns (0-4).

“We’ll take 4-0,” Bledsoe said. “We hurt ourselves. But Terry came back and had a great game. But he needs to hold on to the football. Two turnovers in the red zone made it a much harder game than it had to be.”

Cleveland, which scored its first points at home and led 7-0, stayed in the game for all 60 minutes for the second consecutive week. But the Browns, the league’s least penalized team entering Week 4, hurt themselves with costly penalties, including a questionable defensive holding call in the fourth quarter that nullified a touchdown-interception return.

Roy Barker was whistled for holding on tight end Ben Coates, negating a 35-yard touchdown return by Marquez Pope that would have brought the Browns within six.

Bledsoe completed 28 of 42 passes for 389 yards for the Patriots, who won their first three games by a combined seven points.

Browns’ rookie quarterback Tim Couch was 12 of 27 for 195 yards and one touchdown.