Cleveland @ New England preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 7, 2010 ) New England 14, Cleveland 34

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots offense are making second-half comebacks a staple of their weekly plan. Brady and company would prefer to jump out early and will attempt to avoid climbing out of a big hole when they host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. The revolving door at quarterback continues for the Browns, who on Friday announced that Jason Campbell has been cleared to start after missing last week's game due to a concussion sustained on Nov. 24.

Cleveland has dropped three straight and six of seven to fall out of the wild-card race and is struggling on defense along with the quarterback issues. The Browns are surrendering an average of 30.8 points in their last six losses despite ranking fourth in the NFL in total defense. The Patriots will attempt to take advantage of that contradiction with a passing attack that has put up 61 points after halftime in the last two weeks.

TV: 1 p.m. ET, CBS. LINE: Patriots -10.5 O/U: 45.5

ABOUT THE BROWNS (4-8): The bright spot for Cleveland is wide receiver Josh Gordon, whose 261 yards last week broke the team record of 237 yards he had set in the previous contest. Gordon’s 498-yard total is an NFL record for a two-game stretch but much of that came with Brandon Weeden under center. Campbell returned to practice on Thursday and took snaps in place of Weeden, who has been ruled inactive for Sunday after suffering his own concussion in the 32-28 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

ABOUT THE PATRIOTS (9-3): New England will likely match Aqib Talib up on Gordon, though the standout cornerback has been limited by a hip injury. The defense has done just enough in the past two weeks to let the offense carry the team, and Brady’s back-to-back comebacks from double-digit deficits are not seen as a positive. “Whatever we’re doing is not good enough,” Brady said after last week’s 34-31 win over the Houston Texans, “and we can’t keep getting behind because you have to play too well in the second half to overcome.”

EXTRA POINTS

1. Patriots CB Alfonzo Dennard missed practice on Thursday to attend a court hearing in Lincoln, Neb., where he reportedly had an extra 30 days added to a jail sentence set to begin in March.

2. Gordon needs 41 more yards to break Cleveland’s single-season record (Braylon Edwards, 1,289).

3. New England has won 16 of its last 17 games in December.

PREDICTION: Patriots 31, Browns 17