CLEVELAND, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Kelly Holcomb threw for two touchdowns and defensive end Kenard Lang returned an interception 72 yards to set up one of the scores Sunday, leading the Cleveland Browns to a 20-7 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Starting his second straight game for the injured Tim Couch, Holcomb hit rookie Andre Davis and Kevin Johnson with scoring passes of 15 and eight yards in the last 3:19 of the half.
After Holcombe connected with Davis to give the Browns a 10-0 lead, the Bengals drove to the Cleveland 17. However, Bengals quarterback Gus Frerotte desperately flipped a pass as he attempted to avert a sack and Lang was there to pick it off and raced 72 yards to the Cincinnati eight.
"I saw the ball coming out and I just grabbed it and started running," Lang said. "It felt like it was going to slip out of my hands, but I secured it and started running full-speed down the sideline."
"I didn't want to take a sack," Frerotte said. "I had the ball in my left hand, my read was taking me to the left and I wanted to get it into the direction where it wouldn't be called grounding. If I took a sack, it would have taken time off the clock."
Two plays later, Holcomb found Johnson over the middle of the end zone to increase the lead to 17-0 with just 21 seconds left in the half.
The Browns evened their record at 1-1 after last week's bizarre 40-39 loss to Kansas City.
"I thought the football team was sick of losing last week," Cleveland coach Butch Davis said. "We didn't win this game today, we won it during the week. It was a huge emotional swing." The Bengals are 0-2 for the seventh time in the last 12 seasons.
"This was a game of two evenly matched teams in an evenly played game," Cincinnati coach Dick LeBeau said. "We did not have much go our way. We could run the ball and we really stopped their running."
Cincinnati's Corey Dillon ran for 108 yards on 21 carries. In his previous six games against the Browns, the six-year veteran averaged 123 yards rushing. However, he was forced to go to the dressing room late in the second quarter when he dehydrated. He returned and also caught a team-high eight passes for 67 yards.
"The running game was wise and we did a great job," Dillon said. "Our offensive line did a great job opening some holes and letting me make moves. We had a couple of turnovers that put us in a hole and we never recovered."
Jamal White led the Browns with just 38 yards on eight carries.
Phil Dawson capped the scoring with just over 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter when he booted a 45-yard field goal for Cleveland. The scoring play was set up when linebacker Brant Boyer intercepted a pass by Frerotte at the Bengals 30.
The Bengals finally scored when Frerotte hit Chad Johnson with a 22-yard pass with 6:34 left.
Dawson opened the scoring with a 52-yard field goal just over five minutes into the contest, the longest of his four-year career.
