CINCINNATI - With Elm Street running along the east side of Paul Brown Stadium, there was a natural tendency to think that a nightmare might take place for the Cleveland Browns Sunday against the Bengals.

The scary part was the fear the Browns put into the Bengals when a touchdown run by Brady Quinn cut a 13-point Cincinnati lead to six in the third quarter.

That proved to be the extent of the fight the Browns offered up before 64,553 fans that expected and received a Bengals' win, 16-7. It wasn't a thing of beauty on either side.

The ugliest party for the Browns was the play of their run defense. The Bengals were without the services of injured running back Cedric Benson, but recently-acquired Larry Johnson and Bernard Scott combined for 194 of 210 rushing yards - 107 by Johnson and 87 by Scott.

Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer threw for just 110 yards on a 13-of-24 performance, but those numbers meant nothing. There wasn't a need for Palmer to throw much with the success the offense enjoyed on the ground.

"They didn't pass the ball," Browns linebacker David Bowens replied when asked about Palmer's statistics. "They came out and ran the ball 75 times (actually 45 times), so who needs to pass?"

The Browns have lost five straight games in dropping to 1-10. The Bengals, who completed a 6-0 sweep of AFC North Division opponents, have an 8-3 record.

Bowens' sentiments were reinforced by cornerback Eric Wright, who didn't take much credit for helping limit receiver Chad Ochocinco to 38 yards on five receptions.

"There's nothing really to talk about other than the fact they had a lot of rushing yards," Wright said.

Despite the rushing yards accumulated by the Bengals, the Browns played well defensively. At least well enough to win if the offense had done its job.

One week after its best game of the season in a 38-37 loss to the Detroit Lions, the offense managed just 169 yards, including 58 on the ground. Quinn, operating in an offense that didn't dare throw the ball deep or across the middle, was 15-of-34 for 100 yards. Quinn's best contributions came when he caught an 18-yard pass from Joshua Cribbs on a drive that produced his 9-yard touchdown run on a quarterback draw.

"I felt we had some opportunities, and some of those opportunities were limited by drops," Browns coach Eric Mangini said. "I'm not sure how many drops we had, but we had too many. Some of them we had guys open, and we couldn't get the ball to them.

"I thought Cincinnati did a nice job with a couple of different looks in terms of their pressure package. Overall, it's being able to execute the plays that are available to extend the drives that allow yourself more opportunities to be effective."

The frustrating part about the last couple of weeks for the Browns has been the inability for all phases to play well. The offense had a big day against the Lions, but the defense fell apart in allowing a 21-point lead to vanish. The defense played fairly well against the Bengals, but the offense reverted to its bad ways.

"We have to play better in all three phases for all four quarters," Bowens said. "The offense moved the ball a little bit and got us a score. The defense needs to hold them to field goals and not touchdowns.

"It's a little frustrating when we don't win and things like that happen where one phase of the team isn't playing well. It boils down to all of us playing better for four quarters and not just a half."

The Bengals took a 3-0 lead on a 37-yard field goal by Shayne Graham in the first quarter. The Browns ran only one play in Bengals' territory in the first half, and Quinn was sacked to move the ball from the Cincinnati 47 to the Cleveland 46.

The Bengals stretched their lead to 10-0 in the second quarter when Palmer connected with tight end J.P. Foschi on a 9-yard touchdown pass.

The first-half numbers showed how one-sided the game was at that point. The Bengals had 169 yards, including 131 on the ground, compared to 46 yards for the Browns.

Quinn's touchdown completed an eight-play, 55-yard drive. The pass from Cribbs to Quinn was the key play.

"That was drawn up perfectly, and it worked perfectly," Cribbs said. "We couldn't have drawn it up any better."

The Bengals responded with an 11-play, 62-yard march that produced a 28-yard field goal by Graham with 50 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The Browns weren't able to get beyond the Bengals' 43 in the fourth quarter.

"When you play a team like Cincinnati, which is a very physical team, on the road, there's a very small margin for error in anything we do," Mangini said. "With Scott, you can't let him get outside, and that's where he's most effective. On the touchdown pass they had, you have to keep the quarterback in the pocket. We had some opportunities in the passing game, and whether it was dropped passes or missed throws, those are the things that hurt you on a weekly basis.

"We have to be able to start a little quicker than we did today. Against good teams, you have to come out of the gate the same way that you finish the game."

The Browns host the San Diego Chargers Sunday.

mmclain@tribtoday.com