(My Sportsbook) - The Cleveland Browns have moved talent out of town with little hesitation this year. Having already traded tight end Kellen Winslow before the season started and wide receiver Braylon Edwards during it, it appears that first-year head coach Eric Mangini wants this to be his team.

Quarterback Brady Quinn has put his house on the market, a move that came after he lost his starting job to Derek Anderson, and a few Cleveland players have also seen their name pop-up in rumored trade talks.

Return specialist Joshua Cribbs isn't one of those players. Not that he wouldn't mind it.

Now, Cribbs has denied asking for a trade and says he wants to stay in Cleveland. However, he also wants a new deal.

Few could blame the Browns for not jumping through hoops to accommodate Cribbs. After all, the club deserves credit for locking him in for six years in November 2006 -- right before his 2007 breakout campaign -- for a bargain price of $6.7 million. Besides, if Cleveland accommodates Cribbs, who knows who else will come calling with their pockets turned inside out.

On the other hand, if anyone has ever outplayed a contract, it is Cribbs. He posted a 98-yard kickoff return in Sunday's 27-14 loss to Pittsburgh, his team-record eighth return touchdown. Eric Metcalf held the previous record of seven.

Mangini was asked on Monday if he didn't want to negotiate with Cribbs to avoid setting a precedent.

"With all those contract things, those are internal," the coach said. "Like I said, I really like Josh. I think he's done a great job. I like him, obviously, for his special teams value, but the things that he's able to do, offensively, I think, have been very good.

"I've liked the way he's worked at wide receiver as well. You really haven't seen as many numbers there, but it's not something that we've stopped working on. He's still working on that and I think he'll continue to develop there."

Bottom line is that Cribbs deserves a new contract, precedent or not. He has emerged as one of the top returners in football right now and is making strides at the wide receiver position as well. In turn, he may have passed Chicago's Devin Hester as the league's most dangerous all-around player.

He is also the key to Cleveland's Wildcat formation, which it ran at times versus the Steelers on Sunday. Cribbs ran the ball six times for 45 yards, threw two incomplete passes -- one of which was picked off -- and failed to catch a pass.

"I wasn't surprised at all," Cribbs said after the game on how much the Wildcat was used. "You have to be able to step in and do your job and do what you're capable of."

Cribbs also deserves credit for not rocking the boat with his unhappiness, surprising given the Browns are just 1-5 on the season. But that could change if this situation lingers without a resolution.

It is time for the Browns to show Cribbs the money.

STEELERS: The Pittsburgh Steelers have the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, one of the top safeties in the league and a defensive reputation that comes in second to few, if any.

However, after a slow start, it is the offense that is carrying the Steelers week-to-week and back into first place in the AFC North.

There was some concern when the Steelers lost two of three to start the 2009 season. There was talk of a Super Bowl hangover, but thanks to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh has sobered up rather quickly.

The Steelers have taken advantage of a bit of a soft spot in their schedule, too. After a 10-point win over the San Diego Chargers in Week 4, Pittsburgh saw a golden opportunity to get over .500 with pending games versus Detroit and Cleveland.

Mission accomplished after two wins in which Roethlisberger has thrown for 694 yards and five touchdowns. He has seven scoring strikes over Pittsburgh's three-game win streak that was furthered by Sunday's 27-14 win over the Browns, and is on pace for one of his better statistical seasons.

In the Steelers' win over the Browns, their 12th straight over the franchise, "Big Ben" threw for 417 yards, the second-highest total of his career. He hurled 433 yards versus Denver back on November 5, 2006.

Roethlisberger is in such a zone right now that the Steelers threw the ball 35 times against one of the poorer run defenses in the league.

"We came out with the intent to run the ball," said Roethlisberger. "When I get to the no-huddle, I was just 'let's get in the shotgun and start slinging it around.' It worked for us."

The days of Pittsburgh pounding the ball on the ground appear to be over.

"This is the best I've ever seen [Roethlisberger] play," said tight end Heath Miller, who caught his fourth touchdown pass in three weeks on Sunday. "I've seen him play pretty darn good sometimes. I just think, the more you do something, the more comfortable you are with it and Ben has full command of this offense. He's had full command for a few years now. But he just keeps getting better and better."

Thanks to setbacks this past weekend by Cincinnati and Baltimore, the Steelers are now tied with the Bengals for the top spot in the division, one game ahead of the Ravens.

After two weeks against struggling opponents, Pittsburgh faces a tough challenge this weekend at home versus 6-0 Minnesota, led of course by Brett Favre.

"I've never played against Brett," said Roethlisberger. "[He's] a guy that I've looked up to, so I look forward to that. They have a great defense, obviously. It's going to be a good challenge for us...We're going to have to be on our A-game on offense."

BENGALS: The Cincinnati Bengals lost more than the game on Sunday when they were outgunned by the Houston Texans, 28-17.

Cincinnati's defensive line exited the game pretty banged up. Defensive end Antwan Odom suffered a torn Achilles in the first quarter, an injury that required surgery and ends the 28-year-old's season.

Odom entered play on Sunday tied for the league lead in sacks with eight, which already matched his previous career high.

Domata Peko also left the contest in the opening quarter with a knee injury, leaving the defensive tackle's availability for this weekend's game versus Chicago in doubt. Head coach Marvin Lewis did say on Monday that he believed Peko's injury wasn't severe, but that he would have to wait and see.

Without Odom, Houston quarterback Matt Schaub was able to throw for 392 yards with four touchdown passes on Sunday. Odom, who had to be carted off the field, had blocked a field goal try earlier in the game, but it was obvious his pass-rushing ability was missed throughout the contest.

"I think when you lose Antwan Odom, it hurts," said quarterback Carson Palmer, who threw for 259 yards and a touchdown while also getting picked off once. "That was huge for [Houston's] offense, because that's a big-time pass rusher coming off the edge. We also were without other key guys, so it made it difficult."

With defensive end Frostee Rucker (ankle) and tackle Tank Johnson (foot) also battling injuries, the Bengals added interior lineman Orien Harris on Tuesday. Jon Fanene is expected to replace Odom in the starting lineup, while rookie Michael Johnson should see his snaps increase.

All will have big shoes to fill in Odom, who also battled foot and shoulder ailments last year, his first with the Bengals after four seasons with Tennessee.

"We were undermanned, big time. But, that's just the game," said Tank Johnson. "Guys are going to go down. Guys are going to get hurt. It's frustrating when you are undermanned. It's hard, but life is hard. We have to push through that and make it happen."

It isn't all bad for the 4-2 Bengals, who had a four-game win streak end while also falling into a tie for first place with Pittsburgh. Lewis said on Monday that offensive tackle and 2009 first-round pick Andre Smith should return to practice soon with the hopes he can make his season debut on November 8 versus Baltimore, the club's first game back following a bye.

The sixth overall pick broke a bone in his left foot two days after ending a contract holdout in training camp.

RAVENS: If you had told the Baltimore Ravens after their Week 3 win over Cleveland, a 34-3 rout that improved the club to 3-0, that they would be back to .500 by their bye week, they wouldn't have believed you.

Yet that is where the club is after dropping three games in a row by a combined 11 points, the latest being a two-point, 33-31 setback to Minnesota.

Heading into the bye week, the Ravens have a lot of positives to take out of the Vikings loss. They fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter and trailed 30-17 before back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth quarter put them ahead 31-30. However, the defense couldn't contain Brett Favre, who led Minnesota down the field for a go-ahead field goal with 1:56 left to play.

Quarterback Joe Flacco and company were able to answer with a march down the field, but kicker Steve Hauschka pushed a field goal attempt wide left with two seconds to play, dropping Baltimore into third place in the division, a game back of Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

"I commend my team," linebacker Ray Lewis said after the loss. "Anytime you find yourself in football games where we find ourselves in football games, every game has come down to the freaking last drive. To me it speaks volumes. It speaks volumes because it shows a team that never stops fighting for 60 minutes. So the bottom line is that we get away from it, come back to it, and correct things in the fourth quarter that hopefully get us over the edge."

For once, the Ravens enter the bye with some concerns on defense. The club has allowed 24 or more points in four of its six games this year, one season after defensive coordinator Rex Ryan departed to become head coach of the Jets.

Head coach John Harbaugh, though, dismissed the change to Greg Mattison as a reason for the defensive struggles.

"Whatever struggles we've had on defense are not due to who's not here," Harbaugh said on Monday. "We've got plenty of good coaches and plenty of good players to play good defense. Is there a transition? There's always a transition."

Baltimore is fortunate to get an extra week of rest and preparation before a November 1 meeting with the currently 6-0 Broncos. Denver has used a solid defense itself to get out to its hot start, and the Ravens would probably love to make the home game a defensive battle.

Still, 11 points is all the separates the Ravens from being in the same boat as Denver.

"It's better than being (beat) by a total of 111 points, for sure," said Harbaugh. "Now in the standings it still counts as three losses. But beyond that, I think you look at our players, and you look at the performance, and you see what kind of men we have, and you see what kind of team we can be. It's our job as a collective unit to get ourselves to the kind of team we can be. We're not there yet.

"But you know what? If we win the next bunch in a row, we still won't be there, because we'll have the next meaningful game to play."