Patriots Take It in Stride

The New England Patriots’ success isn’t surprising anymore. Not after Sunday’s 27-16 victory over the Cleveland Browns, their seventh win in nine games.

Not after Antowain Smith and Troy Brown were solid again and Tom Brady was steady. And not after another strong defensive performance took them closer to their first playoff berth in three years.

“I knew in training camp that we were going to be a good football team. It just didn’t happen right away,” said Brown, who started the day tied for third in the NFL with 78 catches.

He added eight Sunday and returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown. Smith scored on runs of one and five yards, Adam Vinatieri kicked two field goals and the defense held the Browns’ offense without a touchdown.

“We’re playing the defense now that we played two years ago when we were getting it done,” linebacker Tedy Bruschi said.

The Patriots (8-5) have allowed more than 17 points once in six games and that was when St. Louis beat them, 24-17. Their three remaining opponents include two of the league’s worst teams, Buffalo and Carolina. They also face Miami.

“A lot of people expected us to fail,” center Damien Woody said, “but we knew what we could do.”

The Browns (6-6) also have done better than expected after going 5-27 the previous two seasons. But on Sunday they dropped their second straight game as Tim Couch threw three interceptions.

“They mixed up the fronts a lot,” Couch said. “We felt like we were in the game right up until the end, but they did a good job every time we got close.”

The Browns made it 20-16 on Phil Dawson’s third field goal, a 22-yarder with 12:39 left after they couldn’t score a touchdown with a first-and-goal at the four.

New England put the game out of reach on Smith’s second touchdown, a five-yard run with 2:43 left. His knee hit the ground at the one before the ball crossed the goal line, but the Browns didn’t challenge the touchdown call.

“This loss hurts, but we gave up big plays on special teams,” said Jamir Miller, who had two sacks for Cleveland. “We played better in the second half because we knew our season was on the line.”