By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CLEVELAND - The Bengals won their first game under rookie coach Marvin Lewis this afternoon, 21-14 over the Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Jon Kitna threw three touchdown passes and no interceptions. He was 23-for-31 passing for 215 yards. Rudi Johnson, filling in for the injured Corey Dillon, rushed for 51 yards.

Bengals cornerback Jeff Burris intercepted a Tim Couch pass to end Cleveland's last-ditch drive.

The Bengals improved to 1-3, and the Browns fell to 1-3 in the "Battle of Ohio" game. The Bengals now lead the series with the new Browns 5-4 since the start of the 1999 season.

The Bengals took their first lead of the season with 9:01 remaining in the third quarter when Kitna threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Reggie Kelly.

The Bengals were either tied or trailed in the previous 215:59 of the season.

The winning drive was 10 plays and covered 80 yards to open the second half.

Rookie wide receiver Kelley Washington had two third-down receptions for first downs on the drive, and 36 yards came on a pass interference call in the end zone on Browns cornerback Daylon McCutcheon. He had become tangled with Peter Warrick in the end zone.

One play later, Kitna lofted a pass Kelly in the corner of the end zone.

The Browns led 7-0 with less than one minute gone in the game. On their second play, quarterback Tim Couch threw a wide receiver screen to Quincy Morgan, who broke a tackle by safety Rogers Beckett and split the defense for a 71-yard touchdown. Cornerback Jeff Burris was blocked.

The Bengals tied the game on their first possession, driving 76 yards on 14 plays. Kitna hit Chad Johnson on a 3-yard touchdown pass with 7:14 left in the first quarter.

The touchdown was the first in nine red zone possessions and the first touchdown pass allowed by the Cleveland defense.

Cleveland jumped to a 14-7 lead with 9:36 remaining in the second quarter on a 4-yard pass from Couch to tailback Jamel White. Two line-of-scrimmage penalties against the Bengals defense helped the drive. The Bengals had committed four offside penalties on the Browns previous possession, but it resulted in no points. Kicker Phil Dawson pushed a 36-yard field goal attempt wide to the right.

The Bengals tied the game at 14 right before halftime. Kitna threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to Chad Johnson, who had beaten cornerback Robert Griffith.

Dillon ran four times for 20 yards but did not return after halftime. He aggravated his groin injury in the first half.

Cincinnati	7	7	7	0-21
Cleveland	7	7	0	0-14

First Quarter

Cle-Morgan 71 pass from Couch (Dawson kick), 14:06. Drive: 2 plays, 76 yards, :54. Cleveland 7, Cincinnati 0.

Cin-C.Johnson 3 pass from Kitna (Graham kick), 7:14. Drive: 14 plays, 76 yards, 6:52. Key plays: Kitna 19 pass to Stewart on 3rd-and-8;

Kittner 7 pass to Stewart on 3rd-and-2. Cincinnati 7, Cleveland 7.

Second Quarter

Cle-White 4 pass from Couch (Dawson kick), 9:31. Drive: 7 plays, 59 yards, 3:35. Key play: Couch 14 pass to Morgan on 3rd-and-8. Cleveland 14, Cincinnati 7.

Cin-C.Johnson 55 pass from Kitna (Graham kick), :20. Drive: 4 plays, 80 yards, :45. Key play: Kitna 15 pass to Stewart. Cleveland 14, Cincinnati 14.

Third Quarter

Cin-Kelly 1 pass from Kitna (Graham kick), 9:01. Drive: 10 plays, 80 yards, 5:59. Key plays: Kitna 11 pass to Washington on 3rd-and-10; Kitna 17 pass to Washington on 3rd-and-6; 36-yard pass interterence penalty on McCutcheon. Cincinnati 21, Cleveland 14.

A-73,428.

	Cin	Cle
FIRST DOWNS	17	18
Rushing	3	5
Passing	13	13
Penalty	1	0
THIRD DOWN EFF	9-15	5-11
FOURTH DOWN EFF	0-0	0-1
TOTAL NET YARDS	295	339
Total Plays	60	60
Avg Gain	4.9	5.7
NET YARDS RUSHING	80	69
Rushes	29	22
Avg per rush	2.8	3.1
NET YARDS PASSING	215	270
Sacked-Yds lost	0-0	2-10
Gross-Yds passing	215	280
Completed-Att.	23-31	23-36
Had Intercepted	0	1
Yards-Pass Play	6.9	7.1
KICKOFFS-EndZone-TB	4-0-0	3-1-1
PUNTS-Avg.	6-42.0	4-40.8
Punts blocked	0	0
FGs-PATs blocked	0-0	0-0
TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE	56	117
Punts Returns	0-0	5-57
Kickoffs Returns	2-39	4-60
Interceptions	1-17	0-0
PENALTIES-Yds	11-60	11-101
FUMBLES-Lost	0-0	3-0
TIME OF POSSESSION	29:47	30:13

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Cincinnati, Rudy Johnson 15-51, Dillon 4-20, Bennett 5-7, J.Johnson 2-3, Kitna 3-(minus 1). Cleveland, Green 16-47, Andre Davis 2-11, Jackson 2-8, Couch 2-3.

PASSING-Cincinnati, Kitna 23-31-0-215. Cleveland, Couch 23-36-1-280.

RECEIVING-Cincinnati, Warrick 6-41, Stewart 5-56, Rudy Johnson 4-11, C.Johnson 3-67, Washington 2-28, Bennett 1-8, J.Johnson 1-3, Kelly 1-1. Cleveland, K.Johnson 5-89, White 4-20, Morgan 3-92, Andre Davis 3-29, Northcutt 3-23, Green 3-17, Jackson 1-7, Heiden 1-3.

PUNT RETURNS-Cincinnati, None. Cleveland, Northcutt 5-57.

KICKOFF RETURNS-Cincinnati, Bennett 2-39. Cleveland, Andre Davis 4-60.

INTERCEPTIONS-Cincinnati, Burris 1-17. Cleveland, None.

TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS-Cincinnati, Simmons 7-1-0, Hardy 6-2-0, Burris 6-0-0, Smith 3-2-1, James 4-0-0, Williams 3-1-1, Ross 2-1-0, Hawkins 2-1-0, Roberts 3-0-0, Clemons 2-0-0, St. Louis 2-0-0, Roman 2-0-0, Kaesviharn 1-1-0, Steele 1-0-0, Thornton 1-0-0, Powell 0-1-0, Abdullah 1-0-0, Levels 1-0-0, Beckett 1-0-0, Myles 0-1-0. Cleveland, Andra Davis 6-1-0, Griffith 6-0-0, Little 5-1-0, Bentley 2-3-0, McCutcheon 4-0-0, Taylor 3-1-0, Crocker 3-1-0, Roye 2-2-0, Gardner 2-2-0, Brown 3-0-0, Lang 2-1-0, McKinley 2-1-0, Henry 1-1-0, Warren 1-1-0, Boyer 1-0-0, Word 1-0-0, Thompson 1-0-0, White 1-0-0.

MISSED FIELD GOALS-Cleveland, Dawson 35 (WR).

OFFICIALS-Referee Ron Winter, Ump Jeff Rice, HL Sanford Rivers, LJ Ron Marinucci, FJ Greg Gautreaux, SJ Michael Banks, BJ Perry Paganelli, Replay Dick Creed.

TIME: 2:54.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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