Written by Jonathan Knight

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

POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS, PART 1: Two days before Barack Obama’s election in 2008, the Browns also blew a fourth-quarter lead and lost at home to the Ravens by 10 points.

GET OUT THE BROOMS AGAIN: In the 14 years of the rivalry, the Ravens have swept the season series from the Browns nine times.

FINDING A WAY TO LOSE: This was the sixth time in Pat Shurmur’s 25-game tenure as head coach that the Browns lost a game in which they’d held a lead in the fourth quarter. In Eric Mangini's 32 games as Browns' coach, this happened a total of five times.

POINTS AT A PREMIUM: Over their last eight meetings with the Ravens, the Browns have averaged just 10.6 points per game. In those games, the Cleveland offense scored only six touchdowns.

FIVE FOR PHIL: This was the third time Phil Dawson kicked five field goals in a game - the last was in a Monday-night victory in Buffalo in 2008. Matt Stover also did it once in 1995, as did Don Cockroft in 1975. Dawson’s career-high is a team-record six, in a loss in San Diego in 2006.

MIXED RESULTS FOR T-RICH: The good news was that Trent Richardson topped the 100-yard rushing mark for the third time this season, primarily thanks to a sterling first half that saw him pick up 76 yards on 14 carries for a 5.4 average. The bad news was that he was essentially a non-factor in the second half, managing just 29 yards on 11 carries, a 2.6 average.

POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS, PART 2: Each time the Browns have lost a home game on the weekend prior to a presidential election, the Democratic candidate went on to win the popular vote. Each time they’ve won a home game on that weekend, the Republican candidate won the election.

QUICK IMPROVEMENT: After surrendering 156 total yards (an average of 7.1 per play) on Baltimore’s first two drives, the Browns’ defense rebounded to limit the Ravens to 126 on their final 11 possessions (3.1 per play). Similarly, Ray Rice was held to 43 yards on 15 carries (2.9) for the remainder of the game after picking up 55 on 10 carries (5.5) on his first two possessions.

MILESTONES: On Sunday, Trent Richardson went over the 500-yard rushing mark and Brandon Weeden topped 2,000 passing yards.

RARE ACCOMPLISHMENT: This was just the second time this season the Browns accumulated more total yardage than their opponent.

MORE PHIL: Phil Dawson kicked eight field goals in two games against Baltimore this season, compared to nine in the Browns’ other seven games.

SECOND TIME AROUND: The Browns held the Ravens to 156 fewer total yards than they allowed in the first meeting, while limiting Joe Flacco to 192 fewer passing yards.

DIGGING EARLY HOLES: Sunday was the third time this season the Browns have allowed a touchdown on the opponents’ first possession of the game, and the second time they’ve allowed touchdowns on the first two possessions. For the year, they’ve been outscored by 29 points in the first quarter but only by 13 points over the final three periods combined.

AWESOME DAWSON: After not attempting a field goal in the Browns’ last two games, Phil Dawson has now made 23 consecutive field-goal attempts. His last miss was a 55-yard attempt in Cincinnati last November. Now with 1,222 career points, Dawson is 127 away from becoming the Browns’ all-time leading scorer.

NICE STREAK: Until his pick early in the third quarter, Brandon Weeden had not thrown an interception in his previous 110 pass attempts. Putting that streak in perspective, in his first 209 pass attempts this season, he threw 10 interceptions.

DISTANT RICE: In their two meetings this season, the Browns held Ray Rice to 147 rushing yards on 43 carries - a dramatic improvement over the 287 yards on 52 carries he rolled up against the Browns in their two meetings in 2011.

WEEDEN WOBBLES: Statistically, this was Brandon Weeden’s worst performance since opening day. He tallied a 44.4 rating - the fourth time he’s scored lower than 60 in a game. Weeden’s season passer rating has dipped to 67.9.

A TALE OF TWO HALVES: The Browns picked up 205 total yards and 11 first downs in the first half but just 85 and six in the second.

HOLDIN’ BOLDIN: After lighting up the Browns for 131 receiving yards in their first meeting, Anquan Boldin was held to a modest 57 on five catches in the rematch.

NOT OPPORTUNISTIC: This was the first time all year - and in the last 15 games - that the Browns’ defense did not force a turnover.

SAD SERIES: The Ravens now lead the all-time series, 21-7. Baltimore has won the last 10 meetings and 12 of the last 14.

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