After sputtering the past two weeks, the Bengals pass offense clicked Sunday to complement a strong running game in the 24-14 victory against Cleveland.

        Quarterback Jon Kitna and his receivers made similar reads on defensive coverages, and Kitna was 20-for-38 passing for 201 yards and one touchdown.

        He threw no interceptions against a Browns defense that came into the game with a league-leading 11 and was ranked sixth in pass defense at 160.8 yards a game.

        The difference between this week and the past two took place in practice.

        “During the week, we tried to have perfect practices,” said second-year receiver Ron Dugans, who had one catch for 5 yards and the catch on a two-point conversion.

        “We decided it wasn't go ing to be us just trying to get it right in the ballgame. The past couple weeks, we were saying, "We'll do it right in the ballgame.' And we didn't do it right. This week we did it in practice.”

        Five of the Bengals' 10 third-down conversions came on pass plays. They had nine first downs passing. Overall, they were 10 of 20 on third down.

        “We're going to continue to grow together,” Kitna said. “And today the differ ence was we didn't get behind by 10-14 points. The defense kept us in the game, and we were able to continue to execute our passing game. They took Darnay (Scott) out of the game, and we were still able to do some things effectively in the passing game.”

        Kitna's 5-yard touchdown pass to Darnay Scott in the third quarter was the Bengals' sixth touchdown pass of the season, tying the number they had in all 16 games a year ago.

        Scott made his one catch count. It was a 5-yard fade pass from Kitna in the end zone that put the Bengals up 10-7 in the third quarter.

        The bad news Sunday was the broken collar bone suffered by rookie wide receiver Chad Johnson. He will be out six weeks.

        Johnson had become Kitna's go-to receiver on third down. Three times on third downs, Johnson caught passes of 16, 16 and 15 yards from Kitna for first downs. Johnson had his best day as a pro, catching five balls for 68 yards.

        “It's there,” Johnson said of the communication between quarterback and receivers. “They told me 4-6 weeks. But with the technology and medicine they have here, they better have me back in two. I don't like sitting out at all.”

        Peter Warrick also had a big day, pulling in four passes for 73 yards.

        “We're trying to get this thing right, man,” he said. “It seemed a little better today. It started clicking.”

Bengals 24, Browns 14 Grading the Bengals DAUGHERTY: Defense heeds Spikes' message Dillon grinds out another big day Passing game catches on Rackers rallies in second half Browns safely prevented safety Injuries knock out Johnson, Heath Bengals-Browns statistics Bears bring 3-game win streak here Fan welcome respite from terror fears Gates deluged with umbrellas

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