BEREA: NFL bye weeks are about two things: Getting healthy and getting your bearings.

The Browns will try to accomplish both this week, and they get to do it coming off a victory against the Cincinnati Bengals.

It does not matter that it was not a pretty win or a well-played win. At this point, all that matters is that it was a win.

As they say, in the N-F-of-L any win is a good win.

Which means the Browns can get their bearings in a little better frame of mind. Sort of like a ship's captain. It's easier to get your bearings in calm seas than rocky ones.

Something like that.

As they look forward, the Browns' main challenge is their offense.

It is not close to the unit that was so prolific a year ago.

Derek Anderson's passer rating is a meager 49.9, and he has completed just 49.6 percent of his passes. Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow have one touchdown each, and Jamal Lewis is averaging 3.4 yards per carry.

Missed practice time in the preseason because of injuries, and an injury that has kept receiver Donte' Stallworth from the field have combined to hamper the unit.

Too, defenses are very aware what the Browns want to do with the ball.

''They want to take Braylon and I out of the game, and they're daring us to run,'' Winslow said Wednesday. ''We're getting a lot of seven-man boxes and a lot of two-safeties.''

Defenses are playing the Browns with safeties deep, lining a linebacker up over Winslow and saying they will not change until the Browns force them to change.

Winslow said teams are playing Cover-4 and Cover-2, meaning four defensive backs lined up across the field deep, or two deep with corners laying off the line.

The concept isn't complex. The secondary plays deep to take away the big play. It has been the key to Tony Dungy's success for years with the Tampa Bay Bucs and Indianapolis Colts. It forces the offense to be patient and take the long, slow route to scores.

Running the ball

The conventional way to beat the four-deep or two-deep is well known as well: Run the ball and force the defense to bring a safety closer to the line. That opens up the field deep.

The Browns used this strategy against the Bengals.

Lewis ran the ball 25 times, and offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski called a run on every play of the opening drive.

The first three games, the Browns had thrown on 61 percent of their plays.

Against the Bengals, they ran 40 times and threw 24. That helped the offense establish an attitude, led by the punishing lead blocking of fullback Lawrence Vickers.

Can a team that last season built its success on the big play down the field adjust to make the run the focal point?

They might have to — at least in the short term.

Clearly the Browns have the personnel for it. Lewis wants to run the ball 30 times a game. The offensive line has plenty of ability.

And Vickers might be General Manager Phil Savage's best and most underrated draft pick.

In Cincinnati, Vickers was (to use the vernacular) blowing up Bengals defenders left and right. He started the game by pancaking linebacker Keith Rivers on the first play, then added several more as the game went on.

''I kind of lost count after the first couple,'' he said. ''It was what I was waiting to get a chance to do.''

Vickers is a potential Lorenzo Neal — a bruising 16-year veteran fullback — with the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield.

Would he like to adjust to running the ball more as an offense?

''Whatever it takes to win,'' Vickers said.

Would Anderson?

''If we win, and we have to run the ball 40 times, I'm with it every time,'' Anderson said.

Running success

The Browns will not abandon the big play by turning more to the run. They will, though, help themselves complete more big plays, because running successfully will force teams out of the coverages that have slowed the offense.

And if they actually get Stallworth on the field and he produces, the offense will be that much better.

In football, it's said that when a player or a team struggles, he or it should return to the basics, to the fundamentals.

There's nothing more fundamental in football than running the ball.

In other Browns matters:

• Anderson dismissed what looked like a sideline discussion between he and Edwards as no issue. TV cameras caught the discussion, which also involved Lewis. ''There was no argument whatsoever,'' Anderson said. ''I just mentioned to [Edwards] about being smart, getting the personal foul [Edwards had just been penalized]. He and I were talking. He wasn't yelling at me. Nothing was going on.''

• Several players will not practice this week because of injuries. Among them: safety Sean Jones (knee), defensive tackle Shaun Rogers (shoulder), offensive tackle Kevin Shaffer (concussion), defensive lineman Shaun Smith (hand), Winslow (knee) and running back Jason Wright (knee). Tight end Martin Rucker, linebacker Willie McGinest and Stallworth returned to practice.

• Coach Romeo Crennel said the odds of Jones facing the New York Giants on Oct. 13 are not good. He also said wide receiver Joe Jurevicius is still a ways away from trying to practice. Jurevicius is trying to return from an offseason staph infection in his knee.