CINCINNATI -- For Charlie Frye, a loss is a loss, but for his head coach, what happened in Paul Brown Stadium was a sign the Browns might have the right man at quarterback.

Frye completed 16-of-24 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown in a 23-20 loss to the Bengals. He threw one interception and was sacked twice. His passer rating was 78.1 compared to 136.7 last week. Even though his rating was almost 60 points higher last week, coach Romeo Crennel said Frye played better yesterday.

''The young kid did a pretty decent job overall,'' Crennel said. ''He handled himself where in situations where he was in trouble. He was able to use his feet to get out of trouble and maintain his cool.''

Frye ran for a touchdown on an option play and threw a touchdown pass to Steve Heiden. He said the game ''slowed down'' for him compared to a week ago, meaning he had an easier time coping with the Bengals' defense.

''Obviously, I didn't play well enough to win,'' Frye said. ''We spent a lot of extra time preparing for this game. As hard as we played today, and to come up short, it hurts a little bit.''

Frye seemed better throwing on the run than he did standing in the pocket. On run play, two Bengals were chasing him, but he managed to complete a pass to Antonio Bryant for a 17-yard gain to set up a field goal by Phil Dawson in the third quarter.

...

 Here we go again

Some of the same problems that have plagued the Browns all season affected them again yesterday.

The Bengals faced third-and-13 in the first quarter. The Browns led 7-0 at the time. Palmer passed the ball to T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and Houshmandzadeh fought for 2 yards and a first down after the catch. The Bengals rode the play to a touchdown.

In the second quarter, Bryant and Heiden each dropped a pass from Frye on the same possession.

The Browns had to punt after those drops. Kyle Richardson nailed one that didn't stop rolling until it got to the 20 -- a 58-yard punt. But rookie Nick Speegle was downfield too soon, so Richardson had to punt again. His second punt was 41 yards to the Cincinnati 42 and returned by Keiwan Ratliff fir 9 yards to the Browns 49.

Thus, what goes down on the stat sheet as a 5-yard penalty became, in a sense, a 31-yard penalty. The Bengals ended up with a field goal and went to the locker room trailing 14-13.

From the Bengals

- Bengals backup running back Chris Perry was knocked out of the game with an ankle injury on the final play of the first quarter.

- Dick LeBeau coached the Bengals for 45 games before being fired with a 12-45 record. Marvin Lewis coached his 45th game yesterday. He is 26-19.

- The Bengals have scored 122 points off turnovers this season. The Browns turned it over only once yesterday, and the Bengals got a touchdown off it.

''We got Cleveland's best shot,'' Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer said. ''They had a great scheme against us and did well offensively and defensively.''

The 169 yards rushing by Rudi Johnson was the most against the Browns since Johnson rushed for 202 yards against them when the Bengals beat the Browns 58-48 last year.

''Whatever it is, I'll take it. Don't change it,'' Johnson said when asked about his success against the Browns. ''I guess it's just knowing their personnel. I guess our offensive line is real comfortable with their defensive linemen.''

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