Written by Jonathan Knight

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Useless nuggets of information from Sunday’s Browns game that you can certainly live without…

WEEDEN’S WOES, PART 1: Brandon Weeden’s 5.1 passer rating was the lowest by a Browns’ starting QB since Jeff Garcia’s infamous 0.0 in Week 2 of the 2004 season in Dallas. Putting both performances in context, if a quarterback throws just one pass and it’s incomplete, he scores a passer rating of 39.6.

0-1 AGAIN: Not that anyone doesn’t know this, but just for the record, the Browns have lost eight straight season openers and 14 of their last 15. They’re now 7-23 on opening day since 1980 and their all-time record in their first game of the season is 30-33-1.

NARROW MARGIN FOR ERROR: This was the 35th one-point game in Browns history and their 20th defeat. Their previous one-point contest was the debacle 13-12 defeat to St. Louis last November.

ALL-TIME: The Browns’ all-time record against the Eagles dropped to 31-16-1. This was Philadelphia’s fourth straight victory over the Browns, who haven’t defeated the Eagles since 1994 (when Mark Rypien was the Browns’ starting QB). The Eagles have also won the last four times they’ve played in Cleveland, their last loss here coming in 1988 (when Don Strock was the Browns’ starting QB).

WEEDEN’S WOES, PART 2: Brandon Weeden’s most productive pass was his first - the 24-yard completion to Mohamed Massaquoi. Take that pass away and his passer rating drops from 5.1 to 2.0.

TIRED DEFENSE: The Eagles ran 88 offensive plays to the Browns’ 59. No Browns’ opponent has run that many offensive plays since the Jets ran 89 in their meeting in November 2010. Not surprisingly, the Eagles’ 456 total yards for the day was the most the Browns allowed in a game since the Jets racked up the same amount in that 2010 meeting. (Keep in mind, however, that Jets game went through almost an entire overtime period.)

SCORING DROUGHT, PART 1: This was the first time the Browns’ offense was held without a touchdown on opening day since 2003 and the fourth time it’s happened since their return. Last year the Browns’ offense failed to score a touchdown in four different games.

PICK SIX: D’Qwell Jackson’s pick-and-score was the first Browns’ interception return for touchdown since DE David Bowens did it twice in the same game against New Orleans in October of 2010.

BAD MEMORIES: Brandon Weeden’s four picks were the most thrown by a Browns’ QB since Derek Anderson also tossed a quartet in the loss in Cincinnati in December of 2007 that cost the Browns a playoff berth.

HOME WHITES: This was the ninth straight home game in which the Browns have worn their white jerseys. Their record when wearing the white jerseys at home since 1999 is 9-15 (.375), slightly better than their record of record of 28-54 (.342) when wearing brown or orange jerseys at home.

BRIGHT SPOT: Browns’ punter Reggie Hodges quietly had a fine day, averaging 44 yards per kick (40.3 net) with three of his seven kicks inside the 20 and just one touchback.

HINDSIGHT ISN’T 20/20: The Browns have now scored less than 20 points in 19 of their last 21 games.

LITTLE SURPRISE: After leading the team in catches and receiving yardage in 2011, Greg Little did not catch a pass on Sunday.

FOR STARTERS: For the day, the Browns’ average starting position was their own 37, while the Eagles’ was their own 23.

CONTINUING THE TREND: Last year the Browns lost four games in which they held a lead in the fourth quarter.

A STEP BACKWARD: The worst passer rating notched by a Browns’ QB in 2011 was a 42.4 posted by Seneca Wallace in the season finale against Pittsburgh. And for what it’s worth, only once last year did a Browns’ QB throw more than a single interception in a game and the Browns never committed more than two turnovers in a game.

SCORING DROUGHT, PART 2: The Browns’ offense has failed to score a touchdown in 17 of their last 34 halves of football. 

UP AT INTERMISSION: Ironically, for all their opening-day struggles, this marked the first time in four years the Browns weren’t leading at halftime in the opener.

TEASED: While it was nice to see the Browns hold a lead before falling, it wasn’t anything we haven’t seen before. The Browns held a lead at some point in 11 of their 16 games last year - seven of which they went on to lose.

SCORING DROUGHT, PART 3: Ironically, the last two touchdowns the Browns have scored against the Eagles both came on interception returns. In 2008, Brandon McDonald returned a pick 24 yards for a score in the fourth quarter of a 30-10 loss. The Browns’ offense hasn’t scored a touchdown against Philadelphia in nine straight quarters - a quarterback scramble for a score by Jeff Garcia to send the game to overtime in October of 2004.

FOR OPENERS: This was the sixth time the Browns have opened a season against the Eagles, the first since 1969. Each team has won three.

BEST PLAY: The dipsy-do end around run by Travis Benjamin in the second quarter netted 35 yards and was the Browns’ longest play of the afternoon.

MR. DEPENDABLE: Sunday was the 28th time in his career Phil Dawson has kicked three or more field goals in a game.

BALL HAWK: T.J. Ward did a little bit of everything in leading an admirable defensive charge, collecting eight tackles, a sack, one tackle for loss, two quarterback hits, and a forced fumble. Altogether the Browns tallied 11 quarterback hits

COMPARING DEBUTS: Here’s how Brandon Weeden’s abysmal performance compared to other recent Browns’ rookie quarterbacks making their first career starts:

Tim Couch (1999 at Tennessee):

12 of 24 for 134 yards, 1 TD 0 INT (80.9 rating)

 

Spergon Wynn (2000 at Jacksonville):

5 of 16 17 yards 0 TD 0 INT (40.6 rating)

 

Luke McCown (2004 vs. New England):

20 of 34 for 277 yards, 2 TD 2 INT (80.1 rating)

 

Charlie Frye (2005 vs. Jacksonville): 

13 of 20 for 226 yards, 2 TD 0 INT (136.7 rating)

 

Derek Anderson (2006 at Pittsburgh):

21 of 37 for 276 yards, 1 TD 1 INT (78.2 rating)

 

Colt McCoy (2010 at Pittsburgh):

23 of 33 for 281 yards, 1 TD 2 INT (80.5 rating)

 

OUT-FOXED: The Browns are now 10-16 all-time in games televised by FOX. They’ll be on FOX again Dec. 16 when they host the Redskins.

NICKING VICK: This was only the third time the Browns have faced Michael Vick. Surprisingly, not only had they won both of the previous meetings (when Vick was with Atlanta in 2002 and 2006), but they contained him well. Vick has now thrown for 754 yards in his three games against the Browns completing only 46% of his passes with four touchdowns and seven interceptions for a passer rating of 51.5. He’s been much more effective running, tallying 144 yards on only 20 carries.

NOT TAKING ADVANTAGE: The five turnovers were the most the Browns had forced in a game since collecting six in Jacksonville in 2010 (also, incredibly, a defeat).

NO-NO NFC: The Browns have now lost four of their last five games against NFC opponents and are 4-13 against the NFC over the past five seasons.

 

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