The Cincinnati Bengals special teams units that had been so strong through the first five weeks played a big role in the team’s 34-24 loss at Cleveland on Sunday.

Ranked fourth in the NFL in net punt return average, the Bengals allowed Josh Cribbs to break a 60-yarder that ended up being the turning point in the game.

The Cincinnati defense had strung together five consecutive three-and-outs against a struggling Cleveland offense when Cribbs fielded a Kevin Huber punt at his own 10 and returned it to the Bengals’ 30.

The defense held with its sixth straight three-and-out, but Phil Dawson kicked a 41-yard field goal to start a stretch that would see the Browns outscore the Bengals 27-7.

“It seemed like they got the momentum on that punt return by Cribbs,” Bengals defensive tackle Domata Peko said. “That kind of changed the game there. I thought it was a fair catch, but I guess it wasn’t. We’ve got to play to the whistle.”

Gunner Jeromy Miles also appeared to think it was a fair catch as he stood next to Cribbs and watched him field the ball and take off. Cribbs split Roddrick Muckelroy and Manny Lawson at the 23 on his way to the longest punt return of his career against the Bengals.

His previous long was a 50-yarder in 2009.

After the Bengals cut the deficit to 20-17 early in the fourth quarter, Cribbs returned the ensuing kickoff 44 yards to set up a touchdown drive that gave the Browns their biggest lead of the game to that point.

“We let Cribbs out there on two big plays and it ended up being eventually the field-position plays that killed us,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said. “You can’t do that against him.”

Running on empty

With just 76 yards on 20 carries, the Bengals ground game continued to struggle Sunday in Cleveland against a Browns defense that came into the game ranked 26^th against the run.

In the last four games, the team has rushed 101 times for just 339 yards on offensive plays (Cedric Peerman had a 48-yard run on fake punt at Jacksonville).

“We got behind on down and distance in the second half, and we get penalties that put us in long-yardage situations, and we just do things to hurt ourselves and make it difficult,” said running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who carried 16 times for 62 yards.

Twenty of Green-Ellis’ yards came on his longest run of the season.

“It’s something we have to get figured out,” Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton added. “When the defense is playing two-high coverage, we have to be able to run the ball. All the looks we thought we were going to get, we got. It just comes down to execution at that point.”

Quick hitters

Bengals tight end Jermaine Gresham’s 55-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter was the longest reception of his career, and it was the team’s fourth TD of 50-plus yards this season. A fifth came in the fourth quarter when Andy Dalton hit A.J. Green with a 57-yard bomb for the game’s final score … Cleveland running back Montario Hardesty filled in for injured starter Trent Richardson and finished with 56 yards and his first career-touchdown on a 1-yard leap that gave the Browns their first lead and on they would never relinquish … By intercepting Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton three times, the Cleveland defense raised its season total to 10 after recording only nine in 2011. … Bengals defensive end Michael Johnson recorded the second interception of his career in the first quarter when he brought down a ball batted up in the air by defensive tackle Geno Atkins. Johnson’s other interception also came in Cleveland in last year’s season opener.