Useless nuggets of information from Sunday’s Browns game that you can certainly live without…
BAD STARTS: This was the seventh time this season a Browns’ opponent scored a touchdown on its first possession and the fourth time an opponent scored touchdowns on its first two possessions.
DOUBLE-DIGIT DOLDRUMS: With their loss Sunday, the Browns became the 10th team in NFL history to post 10 or more losses in five consecutive seasons. The good news is they still have a long way to go before matching Tampa Bay’s record stretch of 12 straight seasons of double-digit defeats from 1983 to 1994.
ONE-SIDED: This was the Browns’ largest margin of defeat since getting manhandled by Pittsburgh 41-9 in the 2010 finale (and perhaps appropriately, Eric Mangini’s last game as head coach). Conversely, it was the seventh time the Browns had been defeated by 21 points or more in 15 games in Denver.
THE RETURN OF COLT: Sunday marked the first time Colt McCoy had thrown a pass in a regular-season game in over a year, since getting clobbered in Week 13 of last season in Pittsburgh. In his limited playing time, he notched a marginally better passer rating (85.2) than Brandon Weeden (77.5), though was sacked four times to Weeden’s two. And the Browns’ offense proved more efficient with Weeden at the controls, picking up 157 total yards on 38 plays (a 4.1 average). With McCoy in, the Browns managed 76 yards on 24 plays, a 3.2 average.
OFFENSIVE DIFFERENCES: This was the seventh time this season and the third time in four weeks a Browns’ opponent topped 400 total yards. It also marked the seventh time this year the Browns failed to accumulate 300 yards of offense themselves.
As the Browns wind down another five-win season, rumors run rampant concerning the team’s next head coach and general manager.
The Browns went to Denver and predictably got pasted by Peyton Manning and the Broncos while the Tribe was forced to bid against themselves to land Nick Swisher in an Indians uniform. Neither of those things are surprising and only one of them is bad.
Well, it was just about what you would expect it to be, a clear contrast of good and poor in the form of NFL teams that are in very different places.
The Cleveland Browns hit the road for the final two games of the 2012 NFL season.