At one point during the Browns oh-so-exciting win over the Bengals, an e-mailer sent a colleague a note in the press box that watching that game was like "watching a cactus grow."

Boy was it.

The Browns did not play well in their win, but they won, and that's what they needed. Boy did they. Because a loss to an 0-and-3 team with its backup quarterback playing would have been catastrophic and, yes, time to ponder what to do with the stadium once the team was disbanded.

There were silly penalties, silly mistakes, silly Putty and silliness in general, but there was a win.

"All games aren't going to be pretty," Braylon Edwards said. "There's not going to be 30 or 40 points scored or DA throws for 400 yards. You fight until the whistle blows and that's what we did."

In Edwards' case, he once fought until after the whistle blew, with a ridiculous block late in a play that drew a penalty. But he fought, catching the go-ahead touchdown and then celebrating it with some air-guitar routine before dancing off the field and into the locker room with both arms raised as if he had caught 18 passes for 371 yards. This illustrates two things: Edwards still doesn't really "get it," and the relief that the Browns felt from just winning was enormous.

"We don't care how it looks, how it gets done, we want to put Ws in the column," Edwards said. "The more Ws we get the better chance we have of being what everybody knows we can be."

In all honesty, we're still not sure what the Browns can be yet. We may think they have a chance at the playoffs, but they have a tough run of Giants on Monday night followed by a road game in Washington followed by a road game in Jacksonville. That's three tough games. But at least the Browns can go into those games off a win. Because even if it's an ugly win, it's at least a win.

Some thoughts -

–Romeo Crennel finally detailed that Donte Stallworth's injury was projected as a 2 1/2 -to-4 week injury, and that Stallworth is returning in that time frame. Too, Eric Steinbach said he never had a separated shoulder, just a shoulder sprain.

–The Browns again put Joshua Cribbs in the backfield. He took a shotgun snap and ran. The Bengals pretty much stuffed the play. One of these times the Browns need to have Cribbs throw, because everyone is expecting Cribbs to throw.

–After Derek Anderson went 4-for-10 for 27 yards in the first half, I'd have made the switch to Brady Quinn to start the second half. Romeo Crennel didn't. And finally his players backed him up by coming through after one of his decisions.

–How best to describe this game? Buffoonery. Lots of buffoonery.

–The Browns exulted at running the ball, but Jamal Lewis gained just 43 yards on 19 carries after gaining 36 on his first six.

–At times I really wonder what ever happened to the quality of NFL football. The play that qualifies as professional really is lacking. I know. The Browns won.

A couple quotes:

Derek Anderson on Romeo Crennel not pulling him: "I'm never going to quit on him. I'm going to put in the work and keep fighting no matter the situation."

Anderson: "It was obviously a frustrating week. To go 0-and-3 in games we had a chance in and the expectations we put on ourselves, it's frustrating. During the week we had a good Wednesday practice. Thursday got better. Friday was good. I thought guys mentally were helping each other in practice. You could tell that the attitude of everybody had changed. Not that it was bad before, but things were starting to come together for us."

Mike Adams on Carson Palmer not playing: "I was looking for two picks and I only got one. I needed Carson Palmer."

Joshua Cribbs: "It almost put tears in my eyes to see us play as a team – a complete team."

Ya know … there's really nothing to add to that.