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CLEVELAND (AP) -- Things can't get much bleaker for the Miami Dolphins.

The Cleveland Browns built an early lead and held on for a 41-31 win Sunday that handed the Dolphins a franchise-record ninth consecutive loss.

"It is humbling," linebacker Joey Porter said. "As a team, as a defense, we have real high expectations. But we are not playing real good football right now."

The Browns (3-3) scored on three of their first four possessions to go up 17-3 before Leigh Bodden intercepted Cleo Lemon's pass. Quarterback Derek Anderson turned it into a 24-yard touchdown throw to Braylon Edwards on the next play.

After the Dolphins (0-6) pulled within 27-24 in the third quarter, Anderson threw his second and third TD passes of the game to Edwards to put it out of reach.

"The season is not half over," first-year coach Cam Cameron said. "My experience is that when you get completely sick and tired of the feeling we have right now, then things will change."

Cleveland can go into its bye week with some peace of mind. After taking the week off, the Browns play at St. Louis in two weeks with a chance to go over .500 -- a rare treat for this downtrodden franchise.

Now it's Miami fans who are hurting. The Dolphins, who finished last year with three losses, snapped the team mark of eight consecutive losses set during the 1967 season. Cameron remained winless as an NFL head coach. It was also the sixth road loss in a row for the Dolphins.

It's so bad that even the lowly Browns had to battle overconfidence.

"It's another step in the right direction, to be able to beat a team that everybody says you're supposed to beat," Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel said. "I talked to the guys all during the week about not underestimating these guys or taking them lightly. To be able to come out and get this win against a team that you're supposed to beat, that's a plus. You've got to be able to do that in this league."

The Dolphins were hamstrung without starting quarterback Trent Green, sidelined by a concussion suffered in last week's loss at Houston. Filling in was Lemon, who passed for two scores to tight end David Martin and ran for two more in his second career start.

"We did some positive things, just not enough," said Lemon, who completed 24-of-43 passes for 256 yards with two interceptions.

Ronnie Brown added 101 yards on 19 carries to rack up his fourth consecutive game with more than 100 yards, becoming just the second Dolphin to pull off that feat.

The Browns were also missing a marquee name on offense. Running back Jamal Lewis, 10th in the league in rushing, sat out with a sprained right foot. His subs were more than adequate, with Jason Wright rushing for 59 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, and Jerome Harrison adding 57 yards on eight carries.

Luckily for both offenses, they were facing defenses ranked among the worst in the NFL.

Wright's 1-yard touchdown run came on the fifth offensive play. Anderson then scored on a 1-yard run, Phil Dawson hit a 40-yard field goal and Edwards' first TD catch from Anderson made it 24-3.

The Dolphins rallied. Lemon hit Martin for a 14-yard score, then scored on two runs in the third quarter to cut the lead to 27-24.

But then Anderson found Edwards in the end zone, where he shielded the ball from defender Will Allen to make a 5-yard catch to give the Browns some room to breathe.

"The momentum was kind of swinging their way a little bit," Anderson said. "There wasn't a lot of excitement on the sidelines. We sustained a long drive and answered a score with a score. It kind of put them down a little bit, sort of, 'Jeez, they scored again.'"

Game notes

Ricky Williams holds the Dolphins record of five straight 100-yard rushing games, set in 2002. ... Harrison had totaled 60 yards in his previous 11 NFL games. ... The Browns scored their most points ever against Miami in 13 meetings. ... The three TD receptions marked a career best for Edwards and tied the franchise mark, shared by nine others. ... Miami's Ted Ginn Jr., a Cleveland native, returned the second-half kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, but it was called back by a holding penalty. ... Eric Wright picked up his first career interception for the Browns.