ST. LOUIS - The Cleveland Browns won for the first time on the road. The St. Louis Rams still haven't won at all.
Derek Anderson threw three touchdown passes, two to Braylon Edwards, and the Browns erased an early 14-point deficit in a 27-20 victory over the winless and injury-riddled St. Louis Rams on Sunday. Anderson had three touchdown passes, five interceptions and a lowly 58.1 passer rating in the Browns' first two games on the road, setbacks at Oakland and New England.
Edwards tied his career best with eight catches for 117 yards.
"If I tie my career high, whoopdee-doo, the big thing is we got the win," Edwards said. "We've got our heads above water for the first time in a long time."
The Browns defense made two big plays in the final two minutes.Safety Sean Jones stopped Brian Leonard for no gain on 4th-and-1 from the 16 and Leigh Bodden intercepted a Marc Bulger pass at the Cleveland 28 with 38 seconds left.
"I had his leg and wouldn't let go," Jones said of his stop. "I thought everyone else was coming, but he dragged me for a little while."
The long-struggling Browns (4-3) matched their victory total from last season and have won consecutive games for the first time since Weeks 5 and 6 of the 2003 season, 64 games ago. Not counting Cleveland's victory in the 2004 opener, the Browns areabove .500 for the first time since finishing the 2002 season 9-7.
Steven Jackson's return from a groin injury briefly energized the Rams (0-8), who scored on their first two possessions, but he left again because of lower back spasms in the second quarter. Jackson said he was compensating for the groin, which is still not totally healed.
"It's not an injury that keeps you out for weeks," Jackson said. "I wish it had happened in practice rather than in a game, but thebody is funny like that."
"He was running like a wild beast and we matched his intensity. It just rubbed off on the whole team," tight end Randy McMichael said. "And then he's out and we took a step back. We can't do that."
Still, the Browns had to hang on.
"We didn't adjust very well because they still moved the ball down the field," Coach Romeo Crennel said. "If [Jackson] had been able to stay in there, it couldhave been a different outcome."
Bulger threw his first touchdown pass since Week 2 but missed time with a sprained right thumb in the second half and fell short on a pair of late chances to force overtime.
Torry Holt had six catches for 110 yards and a touchdown for the Rams, whose start is a franchise worst by two losses.
They lost another lineman when guard Richie Incognito sprained his right knee in the first quarter, crippling their running game. They began the game with only one opening-day starter, Alex Barron, and he's not at his original position after moving from right tackle to the left side after Orlando Pace's season-ending shoulder injury in the .
Sports, Pages 18 on 10/29/2007