Marcell Dareus and the Bills' defense had the Browns' offense in their grasps all game long. (Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE)
CLEVELAND — The Bills overcame a game-ending injury to C.J. Spiller in the first quarter Sunday and beat the Browns 24-14 for their second straight victory.
The Browns fell to 0-3. Dating to last season, they are 1-12 in their last 13 games. Next, they have back-to-back road games against the Ravens and Giants, starting Thursday in Baltimore.
“You win a game — that’s how you turn it around,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said. “We talk about team wins. I think it’s important we talk about team losses as well.”
A 22-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Weeden to fellow rookie Travis Benjamin sliced a 10-point Buffalo lead to 17-14 with 2:27 left in the third quarter.
Ryan Fitzpatrick answered with a touchdown pass, his third of the day, when he hit Stevie Johnson for 9 yards with 9:08 to play.
“When the Browns drew to within 17-14, we knew we had to put our foot down and get going again,” Fitzpatrick said. “The offensive line was definitely revved up. We went out there and moved the ball down the field. That was the difference in the game.”
Just as they did last week, the Browns were forced to play catch-up before the first quarter was six minutes old.
The Bills built a 14-0 lead before the Browns made their first first down. Both Buffalo touchdowns were set up with punt returns by Leodis McKelvin one week after the Browns gave up an 81-yard punt return for a touchdown by the Bengals’ Adam Jones.
McKelvin returned the first punt by Reggie Hodges 20 yards to the Buffalo 42. From there, Fitzpatrick completed two passes to Donald Jones and two to Johnson before hitting rookie T.J. Graham over the middle in the end zone from the 9.
“I was just doing what I was supposed to do,” Graham said. “The ball came my way. It was a good throw by Fitz.”
The Buffalo defense stopped the Browns without a first down again. Hodges punted and McKelvin returned the ball 33 yards to the Browns 49 to set up the next touchdown. The play started as a short pass to Spiller. Then Spiller, who entered the game averaging 10.1 yards a carry, turned on the jets and ran to the end zone for a 32-yard scoring play.
“We started too slowly,” Weeden said. “After the week we had last week, that’s disappointing. You can’t be 0 for 5 on third down like we were in the first half and expect to win many games. We have to start faster. That’s on us.”
As it turned out, Spiller would touch the ball only one more time.
The Bills began their third drive on the Buffalo 37 after holding the Browns without a first down again. A short pass to Spiller turned into a 25-yard gain, but Spiller’s left shoulder was injured on a hard but clean tackle by Usama Young. Spiller did not return.
