Useless nuggets of information from Sunday’s Browns game that you can certainly live without…
PEYTON-LESS: The last time the Colts defeated the Browns without Peyton Manning as their starting quarterback was in 1993, when Jack Trudeau led Indy to a 23-10 victory.
ROAD WOES: Under Pat Shurmur, the Browns are now 1-11 in road games. Ironically, he won his first road game as head coach - in Indianapolis in Week 2 last season - and now has lost 11 straight, which leads to our next tidbit...
ANOTHER BAD STREAK: The Browns have tied the franchise record for consecutive road losses with 11, set between 1974-1976.
ROOKIE RIVALRY, PART 1: In the much-anticipated battle of rookies, Andrew Luck got the win, but Brandon Weeden was better statistically, posting a passer rating of 96 - his second-best showing of the season and the third time his rating topped 90 for a game. Luck’s rating for the game was 74.8.
ROOKIE RIVALRY, PART 2: Both Brandon Weeden and Andrew Luck have a season passer rating of 72.3. In the six games since his disastrous debut, Weeden’s rating is 83.4.
RUNNING CONTRAST: The Browns have allowed their opponents to compile more than 100 rushing yards in five of their seven games, while the Browns have only topped 100 yards rushing twice.
DOME SWEET DOME: The Browns stand at 33-39 all-time in domed stadiums (including retractable). They’re 4-5 all-time in Indianapolis’ two domes.
O-LINE IMPROVEMENT: The Browns’ offensive line did not allow a sack and wasn’t penalized for holding for the entire game.
T-RICH STRUGGLES: Brandon Weeden rushed for more yards on his lone carry (13) than Trent Richardson did on his eight (8). Richardson is now averaging less than 3.4 yards per carry for the season while Montario Hardesty has pushed his average up over 3.8.
LOSING TIME: The Colts controlled the football for 35:21, nearly 11 full minutes longer than the Browns. The Browns have lost the time of possession battle in every game this season.
POSITIONAL PUNTING: With two more on Sunday, Reggie Hodges has now placed 12 punts inside the opponents’ 20 for the season and only has one touchback.
DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT, PART 1: After compiling 253 net yards and 18 first downs on their first four possessions, the Colts were held to 63 net yards and three first downs on their last five possessions.
STILL IMBALANCED: For the fourth time in their last five games, the Browns racked up more penalty yards (75) than rushing yards (55).
AFRAID TO RUN?: Though Indianapolis came into the game with the 29th-ranked rush defense and the third-best pass defense (both in terms of yards allowed per game), the Browns ran 17 times and threw 41 passes.
DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT, PART 2: The 321 total yards compiled by the Colts was the least the Browns had allowed in a game all season and snapped a string of three straight games in which they’d permitted more than 400.
MORE FLASH GORDON: Now with four touchdown catches for the year, Josh Gordon has already matched Evan Moore and Josh Cribbs’ team-high total of four for all of last season. Gordon is averaging a touchdown every 3.5 receptions.
90 PLUS: The 90-yard scoring march the Browns put together on their first possession was their third drive of 90 or more yards this season, all in the last four games.
STANDOUTS ON D: Sheldon Brown stood out on defense, leading the team with 10 tackles (nine solo), a tackle for a loss and the sack on which he stripped the ball from Andrew Luck and recovered the fumble. (It’s worth noting, however, that Brown didn’t have a single defended pass.) Frostee Rucker collected the Browns’ other sack and added three other quarterback hits.
SIX OUT OF SEVEN: The only other times in their history the Browns stood at 1-6 after seven games were 1984 and 2009. In both of those seasons, they won four of their last nine games to finish 5-11.
QUICK POINTS: Sunday was the third time this season the Browns’ opponent has scored a touchdown on its first possession. It also marked the first time both teams scored touchdowns on their initial possessions in a Browns game since Nov. 28, 2010, when the Browns and Carolina both reached the end zone on their first series.
BETTER IN BALTIMORE: The Browns are just 6-10 against the Colts since they moved to Indianapolis in 1984 after posting an 11-5 record against the Colts while they resided in Baltimore.
DOWN AT THE BREAK: The Browns have trailed at the half in all seven of their games this season.
THE SERIES: The Browns still lead the all-time series, 17-15, though the Colts have won eight of the last ten meetings.