Josh McCown and the Cleveland Browns offense had one of their best first halves of the season, but a second half to forget spoiled any shot at an upset.
After the Browns rattled off 20 unanswered points to take a 13-point lead, the Arizona Cardinals followed with 24 of their own in the 34-20 loss Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Cleveland’s offense stalled in the second half, and veteran quarterback Carson Palmer and the Arizona offense made the Browns pay. The Cardinals turned it over twice in the second half to make it four on the game, but Cleveland couldn’t capitalize on either opportunity.
The Browns moved to 2-6 with their third consecutive loss. Arizona extended its lead in the NFC West and heads to its bye at 6-2.
McCown was 11-for-17 with 122 yards and three touchdowns in the first half and finished 18-of-34 for 211 yards. Gary Barnidge caught one of those touchdowns and finished with seven receptions for 53 yards.
Palmer threw for 374 yards and four touchdowns, three coming in the second half. Chris Johnson ran for 109 yards on 30 carries.
The Cardinals took back the lead midway through the third quarter with back-to-back touchdown drives fueled by deep passes.
Arizona’s first drive of the half was a quick one, as Palmer found Michael Floyd on a 60-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline. Its second started with great field position, was jump-started with a 39-yard Jaron Brown catch and finished with a 1-yard Troy Niklas touchdown catch.
Arizona extended its lead, 31-20, with a 12-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by a Palmer 6-yard touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald with 9:35 to play.
The Browns had opportunities to stem the Cardinals’ momentum but were unable to get anything else on the scoreboard.
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