Useless nuggets of information from Sunday’s Browns game that you can certainly live without…
RARE BLOWOUT: This was the Browns’ largest margin of victory since clobbering Arizona 44-6 in 2003. It was only the fourth time since their return they won a game by more than 20 points.
GOING AGAINST THE OLD BOSS: The Browns’ all-time record against former Cleveland head coaches now stands at 16-16-1. Ironically, the only former coach against whom they have a winning record is Paul Brown (7-3). They split with Forrest Gregg (4-4) and have posted losing marks against Marty Schottenheimer (2-5-1) and Bill Belichick (2-4).
WHAT ARE THE ODDS, PART 1: The last time the Browns went on a three-game winning streak, they defeated the same three teams, albeit in different order. In December of 2009, the Browns knocked off first the Steelers, then the Chiefs, then the Raiders. They closed out the season with a fourth straight win over Jacksonville.
RETURN HISTORY: Travis Benjamin’s 93-yard touchdown was the longest punt return in Browns’ history, topping Eric Metcalf’s 92-yard runback for a score against the Bengals in 1994. The last Brown other than Josh Cribbs to return a punt for a touchdown was Dennis Northcutt in 2005.
FOURTH THREE: This is only the fourth time in the 14 seasons since their rebirth that the Browns have won three straight games.
BIG ONE EARLY: Jamaal Charles’ 80-yard touchdown on the first play turned out to represent 26% of Kansas City’s offense for the game. From that point on, the Chiefs averaged 4.5 yards per play.
ICE-COLD FROSTEE: Frostee Rucker led another sterling defensive effort with perhaps his finest day of the season - he tied for the team lead with seven tackles (four solo) and picked up a sack, a tackle for a loss, and a quarterback hit.
THE BETTER TEAM: This was the first time the Browns went into a game with a better record than their opponent since they took a 2-6 record into a game against the 1-7 St. Louis Rams last season (which the Browns lost).
TIDBITS: Over their past eight games, the Browns have outscored their opponents, 159-133... Montario Hardesty is averaging 4.7 yards per carry for the season...Six different Browns had rushing attempts on Sunday...The Chiefs were 1 for 12 on third-/fourth-down conversions.
LOW POINT: Sunday’s attendance tally of 62,422 marked the Browns’ smallest crowd ever at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT: After managing only one sack and one quarterback hit in Oakland last week, the Browns tallied five sacks and nine quarterback hits on Sunday.
80 AGAIN: The 80-yard touchdown on the game’s first play marked the longest run the Browns allowed since Pittsburgh’s Willie Parker broke free for an 80-yard touchdown run in the Steelers’ Christmas Eve massacre of the Browns in 2005. They allowed an 80-yard pass for a touchdown against Tennessee last season (Matt Hasselbeck to Jared Cook).
AWESOME DAWSON: The first of Phil Dawson’s three field goals was the 300th of his career. He now has 1,258 career points - 91 away from Lou Groza’s franchise mark. Interestingly, Dawson long since passed Groza’s 234 career field goals, but will come nowhere close to The Toe’s 641 extra points. After Sunday, Dawson has 346 career PATs.
NO COINCIDENCE: The Browns have controlled the football longer than their opponents in each game of this winning streak - after not doing so in the first 10 games of the year. This is best reflected by the final two periods on Sunday: the Browns controlled the football for 19:39 in the second half to Kansas City’s 10:21 - and outscored them, 20-0.
FOUR-DIGIT FLASH?: Josh Gordon now has 732 receiving yards for the season - he needs to average 89 yards per game over the last three weeks to hit 1,000.
QUINN-SISTENT: Brady Quinn’s passer rating over his three seasons with the Browns was 66.8. His passer rating this season with the Chiefs is 67.5. His passer rating in Sunday’s game was 53.5 (take away his 47-yard completion to Dwayne Bowe in the opening minutes and it drops to 42.1).
WHAT ARE THE ODDS, PART 2: The Browns’ third straight victory in their 2009 streak also marked the last time they faced a quarterback who had previously started for Cleveland. Charlie Frye started for the Raiders and threw for 333 yards in the Browns’ 23-9 victory.
THE SERIES: The Browns crept back into the lead in what’s been a very even series, 11-10-2. Their record against the Chiefs in Cleveland stands at 8-3-1.
BROWN IS BETTER: Since the Browns started wearing brown jerseys at home in Week 8, they’re 3-1 at Cleveland Browns Stadium. They were 1-2 at home in the white jerseys.
SACK EXCHANGE: Now with 33 sacks on the season, the Browns’ defense has already surpassed its total of 31 from a year ago. Conversely, the Browns would have to allow five sacks per game over the final three weeks to match their total from 2011.