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Game 11 - Carolina 31, Cleveland 17
COMPLETE SUMMARYCLEVELAND (Sun Nov 21 18:15:07 1999) -- Tim Biakabutuka returned from an ankle injury and totaled 135 yards from scrimmage as the Carolina Panthers kept the new Cleveland Browns winless at home with a 31-17 victory.
Biakabutuka played for the first time in four games, but sparked an offense that grabbed a 31-3 lead early in the fourth quarter. He carried 17 times for 93 yards and had three receptions for another 42 yards.
"He ran a little stronger than even we might have expected and he might have expected," Panthers coach George Seifert said. "There's no question that he is a force, and it's nice to have him back."
Steve Beuerlein threw a pair of short touchdown passes and William Floyd had two one-yard TD runs for the Panthers (4-6), who intercepted rookie Tim Couch twice and improved to 2-4 on the road.
"We're at the state right now where to be able to get a win is pretty important to this football team," Seifert said.
The Browns (2-9) made the score respectable with two touchdowns in the final 5 1/2 minutes, but fell to 0-5 at home after managing only 68 yards rushing.
"I'm not sure why we don't play well at home," Couch said. "We really thought we would come in here and play well today, but it just didn't happen. We have all these great fans out here and we are not giving them much to cheer about."
Biakabutuka's 19-yard run set up a 44-yard field goal by John Kasay. He also had a 13-yard carry and 21-yard reception on Carolina's third possession, which ended with Floyd's first TD and a 10-3 lead.
"Overall, I felt good. It felt better than I thought it would feel," Biakabutuka said of his ankle. "It's getting better. (I) just have to get better every week."
The Panthers went ahead 31-3 by scoring touchdowns on each of their first two third-quarter drives. Biakabutuka had runs of 12 and 25 yards on the first as Beuerlein threw a one-yard TD to backup tight end Brian Kinchen.
"The adrenaline allows you to cope with a lot of pain," Biakabutuka said. "I think that's what happened today. I started the third quarter, my leg was still feeling good. It started to feel a little painful, but I was just happy I was able to play the whole game."
Kinchen returned to the city where he played from 1991-95 and caught his first TD of the season. He doubled his season reception total with a pair of grabs today.
"It's always nice to score a TD, somewhere near where the old stadium used to be," he said. "It was a lot of fun."
It was the first game for Kinchen at Browns Stadium, where Cleveland has been outscored by 102 points in its five losses.
"I didn't expect it to be like this," said Cleveland tackle Orlando Brown, who also played for the original Browns. "You can't take my word. I don't know much about football, I just know how to block. I expected to be doing better than we've been doing because we have been together."
Beuerlein completed 21-of-27 passes for 199 yards before sitting out Carolina's final two possessions. He was 7-of-9 for 54 yards on the Panthers' last drive before the half, capping it with an eight-yard toss to tight end Wesley Walls.
"Today, we were fortunate enough to get an early lead and be able to rest some of our starters," Beuerlein said. "It was a little more of a relaxed atmosphere in the fourth quarter. We were trying to run the clock out."
Floyd's second TD run made it 31-3 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. The fullback carried only six times for eight yards.
"The offensive line put up some great blocks for me," he said. "They opened up holes that were huge. I had not other alternative but to fall into the end zone as well as they did."
Muhsin Muhammad caught seven passes for 72 yards for Carolina, which held a 330-317 edge in total offense. Both teams had 22 first downs.
Couch was 29-of-46 for 259 yards, but one of his two interceptions came when Kevin Johnson dropped a pass over the middle. The Panthers followed with a TD drive, capped by Floyd's second score.
"I dropped two balls my entire college career," said Johnson, a rookie out of Syracuse. "Every ball that hits my hand I blame myself for dropping. I take full responsibilty. Don't blame it on nobody. Kevin Johnson, No. 85, dropped the ball. I let this team down today."
The No. 1 pick in this year's draft, Couch directed scoring drives of 62 and 80 yards in the fourth quarter, hitting fellow rookie Darrin Chiaverini from 12 yards for the final score.
"I feel we are getting better," Couch said. "We are starting to put up some numbers. We are really young. I sometimes see when we are in our three- or four-wide receiver sets that we are all rookies out there."
The 6-4, 227-pound quarterback also led Cleveland in rushing, scrambling for 27 yards on five carries.
"I felt the game came down to us not being able to run the ball with any consistency," Browns coach Chris Palmer said. "Plus the fact that we had penalties that kept them on the field and we dropped passes that hurt us tremendously."
NFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTALSCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: CAR - FG, JOHN KASAY 44 YD, 2:56. Drive:
8 plays, 49
yards in 2:56. Key plays: Beuerlein 23-yard
pass to Muhammad to Carolina 48; Biakabutuka
19-yard run to Cleveland 33. CAROLINA 3-0
2ND QUARTER: CLE - FG, PHIL DAWSON 23 YD, 0:03. Drive: 13 plays, 66
yards in 7:10. Key plays: Couch 19-yard run to
Cleveland 48; Couch 8-yard pass to Kirby on
3rd-and-5 to Carolina 39; Couch 21-yard pass to
Campbell to Carolina 21. CAROLINA 3, CLEVELAND 3
CAR - TD, WILLIAM FLOYD 1 YD RUN (JOHN KASAY KICK), 4:09.
Drive: 7 plays, 51 yards in 4:06. Key plays:
Beuerlein 9-yard pass to Muhammad on 3rd-and-6
to Cleveland 38; Biakabutuka 13-yard run to
Cleveland 25; Beuerlein 21-yard pass to
Biakabutuka to Cleveland 1. CAROLINA 10-3
CAR - TD, WESLEY WALLS 8 YD PASS FROM STEVE BEUERLEIN
(JOHN KASAY KICK), 14:42. Drive: 13 plays, 60
yards in 5:10. Key plays: Metcalf 14-yard punt
return to Carolina 40; Beuerlein 12-yard pass
to Walls on 3rd-and-2 to Cleveland 40; Floyd
1-yard on 4th-and-1 to Cleveland 30; Beuerlein
9-yard pass to Muhammad on 3rd-and-4 to
Cleveland 15. CAROLINA 17-3
3RD QUARTER: CAR - TD, BRIAN KINCHEN 1 YD PASS FROM STEVE BEUERLEIN
(JOHN KASAY KICK), 6:47. Drive: 10 plays, 77
yards in 5:42. Key plays: Biakabutuka 25-yard
run to Cleveland 31; Beuerlein 19-yard pass to
Jeffers to Carolina 12; Beuerlein 8-yard pass
to Jeffers on 3rd-and-8 to Cleveland 2.
CAROLINA 24-3
4TH QUARTER: CAR - TD, WILLIAM FLOYD 1 YD RUN (JOHN KASAY KICK), 1:46.
Drive: 11 plays, 54 yards in 6:43. Key plays:
Beuerlein 10-yard pass to Walls to Cleveland
40; Beuerlein 10-yard pass to Muhammad to
Cleveland 17; 5-yard holding penalty on Browns'
Fuller on 3rd-and-8 to Cleveland 10. CAROLINA
31-3
CLE - TD, TERRY KIRBY 2 YD RUN (PHIL DAWSON KICK), 9:39.
Drive: 10 plays, 62 yards in 3:28. Key plays:
Couch 18-yard pass to Kirby to Carolina 44;
Couch 13-yard pass to Chiaverini to Carolina
26; Kirby 5-yard run on 4th-and-2 to Carolina
13; 3-yard offsides penalty on Panthers' Greene
on 3rd-and-2 to Carolina 2. CAROLINA 31-10
CLE - TD, DARRIN CHIAVERINI 12 YD PASS FROM TIM COUCH
(PHIL DAWSON KICK), 14:50. Drive: 12 plays, 80
yards in 2:09. Key plays: Couch 11-yard pass to
Kirby to Cleveland 31; Couch 8-yard pass to
Chiaverini on 3rd-and-5 to Carolina 39; Couch
12-yard pass to Kirby to Carolina 27; Couch
9-yard pass to Johnson on 3rd-and-4 to Carolina
12; Couch 8-for-10 for 74 yards. CAROLINA 31-17
TEAM STATISTICS
CAR CLE
-------- --------
FIRST DOWNS 22 22
Rushing 8 4
Passing 12 15
Penalty 2 3
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 6-12 6-12
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 1-1 1-1
TOTAL NET YARDS 330 317
Total plays 63 65
Average gain 5.2 4.9
NET YARDS RUSHING 129 60
Rushes 31 18
Average per rush 4.2 3.3
NET YARDS PASSING 201 257
Completed-attempted 23-30 29-46
Yards per pass 6.3 5.5
Sacked-yards lost 2-9 1-2
Had intercepted 0 2
PUNTS-AVERAGE 3-30.3 3-51.0
RETURN YARDAGE 108 115
Punts-returns 3-26 0-0
Kickoffs-returns 3-66 6-115
Interceptions-returns 2-16 0-0
PENALTIES-YARDS 4-23 4-20
FUMBLES-LOST 1-1 1-0
TIME OF POSSESSION 32:53 27:07
PLAYER STATISTICS
Missed field goals: Cleveland (Phil Dawson 38).
Carolina rushing: Tim Biakabutuka 17-93, Fred Lane
3-12, William
Floyd 6-8, Anthony Johnson 1-6, Steve Beuerlein 1-4, Jeff Lewis 2-3,
Eric Metcalf 1-3.
Cleveland rushing: Tim Couch 5-27, Terry Kirby 6-22,
Karim
Abdul-jabbar 7-11.
Carolina passing: Steve Beuerlein 21-27 for 199 yards,
0 INT, 2 TD,
Jeff Lewis 2-3 for 11 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD.
Cleveland passing: Tim Couch 29-46 for 259 yards, 2 INT, 1 TD.
Carolina receiving: Muhsin Muhammad 7-72, Wesley Walls
4-39, Tim
Biakabutuka 3-42, Patrick Jeffers 3-34, Anthony Johnson 2-11, William
Floyd 2-10, Brian Kinchen 2-2.
Cleveland receiving: Terry Kirby 9-79, Darrin Chiaverini
8-72, Kevin
Johnson 5-55, Irv Smith 2-26, Marc Edwards 2-4, Karim Abdul-jabbar
2-2, Mark Campbell 1-21.
Carolina tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): Michael
Barrow 7-1-0,
Mike Minter 6-0-1, Dean Wells 6-0-0, Roderick Mullen 4-1-0, Sean
Gilbert 3-0-0, Doug Evans 3-0-0, Michael Swift 2-0-0, Esera Tuaolo
2-0-0, Eric Davis 2-0-0, Antonio Edwards 1-1-0, Damien Richardson
1-0-0, Mike Rucker 1-0-0, Brent Alexander 1-0-0, Steve Tovar 1-0-0,
Tim Morabito 1-0-0, Kevin Greene 1-0-0, Chuck Wiley 1-0-0.
Cleveland tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): Jamir
Miller 8-3-0,
Wali Ranier 6-2-0, Rahim Abdullah 5-0-0, Ryan Mcneil 4-1-0, Antonio
Langham 4-0-0, Corey Fuller 4-0-0, Daylon Mccutcheon 4-0-0, Derrick L
Alexander 2-1-0, John Thierry 2-1-1, Marlon Forbes 1-2-0, Stalin
Colinet 2-0-0, Marquez Pope 2-0-0, Marquis Smith 1-0-0, Hurvin
Mccormack 1-0-0, Roy Barker 1-0-1, James Williams 1-0-0, Marcus
Spriggs 1-0-0, John Jurkovic 0-1-0, Darius Holland 0-1-0.
Interceptions: Carolina (Brent Alexander 1 for 0 yards,
Eric Davis 1
for 16 yards).
Fumbles lost: Carolina (Muhsin Muhammad).
Opponent's fumbles recovered: Cleveland (Ryan Mcneil).
Officials: Referee-Dick Hantak, Umpire-Carl Madsen,
Head
linesman-Mark Baltz, Line judge-Tom Stephan, Field judge-Scott
Steenson, Side judge-Don Carlsen, Back judge-Don Dorkowski.
A: 72,818; T: 2:49.
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